ECI invests in CSL

Katharine Hidalgo
04 August 2020

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ECI Partners has made an investment in communications services provider CSL.

ECI had been in contact with the business for several years, according to a statement.

The GP is currently investing from its ECI 11 fund, which closed on £700m on July 2018. The fund makes average equity cheques of £45m and was 30% deployed in March 2020.

The CSL management team will stay with the company and the investment will go towards product innovation.

CSL has grown both organically and through acquisition, having made four acquisitions in the last four years, according to a statement.

Previous funding
CSL first received backing from institutional fund managers via an Octopus Investments-backed management buyout in 2006. Octopus injected £3m in exchange for a majority stake as part of a deal valuing the business at £6m.

In January 2012, Bowmark invested £13m in CSL as part of a secondary buyout valuing the business at £32m. The sale generated a 4.3x money multiple for the vendor, representing an IRR of 38%.

Bowmark Capital sold its stake in CSL Dualcom to a consortium including RIT Capital Partners and Iconiq Capital in August 2016. Investment firm Norland Capital also formed part of the buying consortium.

Company
Harefield-based CSL is a provider of machine-to-machine and internet-of-things connectivity products and services in the fire, security and telehealth sectors. The business services devices and events across the UK, the Nordics, Benelux, Spain and Ireland and was founded in 1996. It reported £26.5m in sales in the year ending on 31 March 2019.

People
ECI Partners - Paul McCreadie (partner).

Advisers
Equity - Squire Patton Boggs (legal).
Company – Arma Partners (corporate finance).