LDC exits Texthelp, Five Arrows invests

The Rothschild private equity arm is currently investing from Five Arrows Principal Investments III, which closed on €1.25bn in March 2019. It invests in companies with enterprise values of €75-300m.

LDC was seeking around five potential sponsors in October 2020, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket. The DC Advisory-run process also saw involvement from ECI Partners. The asset was marketed based on revenues of around £30m.

Previous funding
Ireland-based Delta Partners provided Texthelp with £250,000 in 1996.

LDC invested in the business in May 2019. No debt was used for the transaction.

Company
Founded in 1996, Texthelp is a provider of literacy support software for the education and corporate sectors used by people with dyslexia and other learning difficulties, as well as those whose second language is English. Its product range includes Read&Write, EquatiO, Browsealoud and WriQ.

The company employs 170 people at its headquarters in Antrim, Northern Ireland, and in offices in the US and Australia. It reported revenues of £19.2m and EBITDA of £4.9m for the year ending on 30 September 2019.

People
Texthelp – Mark McCusker (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Raymond James (corporate finance); Shoosmiths (legal); EY-Parthenon (commercial due diligence).
Company – DC Advisory (corporate finance); Gateley (legal); Pinsent Masons (legal); EY (financial due diligence).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• United Kingdom
• Rothschild
• LDC
• Secondary buyout