BDC picks up Inspired Thinking Group for £28m

The investment will be used to support the company's growth in the UK, Europe and the US.

The transaction represents an exit for previous investor Isis Equity Partners, generating a 3.4x multiple for the Baronsmead VCTs and an IRR of 40%.

According to Bridgepoint, the UK market for marketing services is worth around £2.9bn, of which £2n is already outsourced and is forecast to grow at 7% per year.

Debt
Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking provided debt for the deal.

Previous investment
Isis invested £3.2m in ITG in June 2010 to support the company's acquisition of Total Marketing Services (TMS), according to unquote" data. Capital for the transaction was provided by Baronsmead VCT. The purchase of TMS gave ITG access to MediaCentre Software, a portfolio of multi-channel marketing production and support services.

Company
Birmingham-based ITG provides marketing services; it aims to aid clients in joining up production processes, optimising their use of in-house data and working more efficiently with their supply chain. ITG focuses on "below the line" marketing, which includes point-of-sale, digital and direct marketing.

The company was founded in 2009 and reported revenues of £43.2m for the year ending August 2013.

People
Adrian Willetts is a partner at BDC. Simon Ward is the CEO of ITG.

Advisers
Equity – EY (Financial due diligence); AMR (Commercial due diligence); Intuitus (IT due diligence); RPC (Legal); ERM (Environmental due diligence).

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