Kester sells Briefing Media to Lyceum

Alice Murray
14 July 2015

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Lyceum Capital has backed the management buyout of Briefing Media Group, in a deal that saw former backer Kester Capital fully exit its holding.

Lyceum invested alongside the company's management team and will support Briefing Media in its organic and acquisitive growth strategy.

Lyceum invested through its third fund, which closed on £330m in 2013.

Previous investment
Kester (known at the time as GCP Capital Partners) acquired the business in February 2012. The deal saw the GP and management team purchase Farmers Guardian and Pulse from UBM. The newco was then renamed Briefing Media.

Company
Preston-based Briefing Media runs a number of online and print agriculture brands including Farmers Guardian and Agrimoney.com. The company runs several events and exhibitions including Lamma and the British Farming Awards. The company also runs The Media Briefing, a provider of strategy insight for those working in the media industry.

Established in 2010, the company generated revenues of £13m in 2014. It employs 80 staff, based in its offices in Preston and London.

People
Neil Thackray is CEO and co-founder of Briefing Media. Rory Brown, a former group marketing director of unquote" publisher Incisive Media, is the company's chief marketing officer.

Lyceum partners Daniel Adler and Jonathan Bourn led the deal for the GP along with investment manager Adam Lewis and investment executive Alistair Gray. As part of the deal, Adler has joined the company's board along with operations partner David Harland.

Cameron Crockett is a founding partner of Kester.

Advisers
Equity – Livingstone Partners (Corporate finance); PwC (Financial due diligence); Olswang (Legal); Ocean Strategy (Commercial due diligence).
Vendor – Plural Strategy, Phil Stone (Commercial due diligence); Travers Smith, Paul Dolman, Kathleen Russ, Donald Lowe, Alex Dison, Genevieve Marten, Katie McGarry, Lauren Causon (Legal).