NorthEdge acquires Help-Link

Ellie Pullen
22 April 2013

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NorthEdge Capital has acquired a stake in Leeds-based central heating specialist Help-Link UK Ltd.

Manchester- and Leeds-based NorthEdge plans to treble Help-Link's turnover by 2016 to £160m. Reports from June of last year state that the boiler specialists forecast a turnover of £35m for 2012.

The funding will allow Help-Link to grow its staff numbers to 320 by next March, with a further 130 new employees the following year. The company hopes to have 1,000 employees by 2016.

NorthEdge recently closed its maiden fund NorthEdge Capital Fund I LP – which was launched in 2009 – on £225m. It held its first close in August last year on £125m. The acquisition of Help-Link is the third investment from the fund.

The fund will typically invest £5-35m in lower mid-market buyouts of northern UK-based established businesses with enterprise values of £10-100m. NorthEdge Capital I already invested in UK-based engineering firm FPE Global in February and Jigsaw24 last week.

Company
Launched in Leeds in 1998, Help-Link installs and maintains boilers on a national scale. It provides a low-cost option of monthly instalments for an upgraded or replaced boiler to make it marketable to households on a budget.

Last year, the company announced a 150% increase in turnover for 2012 and is looking to increase its staff numbers by 78% from 180 to 320.

The company now installs more than 20,000 boilers in the UK each year and services roughly 5,000 boilers on a monthly basis.

People
NorthEdge director James Hall led the deal. Mel Butler is the chief executive at Help-Link. Keith Pacey has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Help-Link. Andy Ball, partner at NorthEdge, and director James Hall will also join Help-Link's board as non-executive directors.

Advisers
Equity - PwC, Stuart Warriner, Andy Kerr, Charlie Ross (Corporate finance); Walker Morris, John Hamer, Joy Irving (Legal); Armstrong Transaction Services, Robin Illingworth (Commercial due diligence); PwC, Nigel Ward, Kevin Barnard, Christopher Bollough (Financial due diligence).
Company - Tennant Land, Paul Land (Corporate finance).