FPE sells IWSR to Bowmark Capital

The acquirer is deploying capital from Bowmark Capital Partners VI, which closed on £600m in January 2019. The fund was 24% deployed in March 2020 and makes majority investments with equity cheques of around £50-70m.

The buyout includes a reinvestment by the IWSR management team.

Bowmark has been tracking IWSR for several years, according to a statement.

The deal marks the first exit from FPE's second-generation fund, which closed in October 2017 on £100m.

Previous funding
FPE Capital acquired the business in April 2018 and Allied Irish Bank provided acquisition finance. The firm is believed to have invested £7m of equity in the deal.

In November 2020, IWSR acquired Wine Intelligence.

Company
Founded in 1971, IWSR is headquartered in London and has a US office in New York. The company has built up a database on the alcoholic beverage market that covers market, category and brand performance in 157 countries. IWSR's database tracks consumption trends across 30,000 brands and 157 countries, according to a statement. It employs 58 people, according to LinkedIn.

People
Bowmark Capital – Tom Elliott (investment director).
FPE Capital – David Barbour (managing director).
IWSR – Mark Meek (CEO).

Advisers
Company – Proskauer Rose (legal).
Management – Gowling WLG (legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Support services
• United Kingdom
• Secondary buyout
• Bowmark Capital LLP
• Proskauer