Endless-backed Liberata bolts on Trustmarque

Harriet Bailey
15 September 2014

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Endless portfolio company Liberata UK, an IT software and services provider, has purchased Trustmarque Solutions from Dunedin.

Trustmarque will continue to operate as a separate company, retaining both its existing senior management team and customer relationships.

Endless acquired Liberata in January 2011 from General Atlantic Partners, backing the incumbent management team with more than £20m. General Atlantic invested £160m in Liberata in 2003 for a 64% stake in the business.

In October last year, Liberata acquired the business and assets of a Coventry-based consortium comprising Trinity Expert System, Eurodata and TES Group. The deal provided the group with a £5m recapitalisation and working capital facilities. In November, Liberata acquired Knowledge Hub.

Previous funding
LDC backed the £30m management buyout of Trustmarque in 2006, with £10m of equity, from Royal Bank Equity Finance. Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate and Structured Finance provided a senior debt package and working capital. In May 2011, LDC backed Trustmarque's acquisition of Nimbus Technology Systems in order to extend its cloud computing service range.

Dunedin then bought Trustmarque in a £43m secondary buyout in June last year. Its Enterprise Investment Trust contributed £3.7m to the deal. A month later, the company completed a £19.5m refinancing provided by HSBC Leveraged Finance. Included in the package was additional capacity for acquisitions.

Company
Based in York, with a further four locations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester, Trustmarque provides IT services to public and private sector organisations. It was founded more than 25 years ago. The 200-strong company counts the UK government, RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, Capita and the NHS among its client base.

Founded in 1975 as a supplier of business processing outsourcing services to the public sector, London-based Liberata employs 1,700 people through its 15 business centres across the UK.

The company operates through two main business lines: Capacity Grid, which connects local authorities, and Business Process Outsourcing, aiding clients in matching best practice and adopting good corporate governance.

Together, Trustmarque and Liberata have combined revenues of £240m, 2,000 employees across the UK and a client base of 1,700 public and private sector customers.

People
Scott Haddow is the CEO of Trustmarque. Dermot Joyce is the CEO of Liberata. James Woolley is a portfolio director at Endless.