Matrix has invested £4.3m in the management buyout and recapitalisation of Iglu.com, the UK’s largest specialist ski and fastest growing cruise holiday travel agent. Matrix provided both the equity and the debt for the transaction.  Iglu.com founder and managing director, Richard Downs, identified the potential for an internet travel agency specialising in ski holidays in 1998. In 2005 Iglu.com entered the cruise holiday sector, where it saw a growing niche market that lacked specialist, independent agents and a high quality online offer.

Iglu.com’s cruise sales have doubled year on year and this growth looks set to continue. Overall, repeat businesses and referrals from satisfied customers, plus an increasing share of the growing cruise market, are helping Iglu.com secure total sales of £45m this year, up from £38m last year.

Iglu.com is based in Wimbledon, South London and employs more than 95 people.

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Matrix has invested £4m to finance the MBO of CB Imports Plc. CB Imports which trades as 'Country Baskets' is the UK’s leading importer and distributor of artificial flowers and floral sundries.

Operating from a national distribution centre in Leeds, the Company is the UK’s leading importer and distributor of artificial flowers, floral sundries, glassware, giftware, basket ware and Christmas decorations. The company also operates a division of wholesale cash & carry outlets with warehouses in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

The market supplying florists is highly fragmented and Country Baskets is unrivalled in its product range and its ability to offer highly competitive prices due its scale. The Company is planning to roll out further outlets across the UK as part of a new growth phase supported by Matrix. The first new outlet will open in January in Gateshead with a series of further sites planned.

The company employs 270 people and has a turnover of circa £20 million.

Matrix has invested £1.5m alongside Maven Capital Partners as part of a £4m equity package to finance the management buyout of Westway Cooling, a provider of air conditioning and facilities management services. The company’s primary activity is the installation, servicing and maintenance of air conditioning systems and associated building services plant. The Company has a blue chip customer base for whom service and total reliability is key. Customers include Marks and Spencer, Fitness First and JP Morgan Cazenove in addition to a number of top-end restaurants, high net worth individuals and City dealing rooms.

The key to completing this deal in the current, challenging funding environment was a spirit of co-operative deal making which saw Maven and Matrix come together in a well funded equity syndicate alongside sensible and modest levels of bank and vendor debt. We welcome the move from the adversarial deal doing that characterised the peak of the market to a more pragmatic and sustainable platform for completing deals for all parties – vendors and buyers alike.  

Westway was established in 2001, currently employs 85 staff and its annual turnover is c. £10m.

Matrix has invested £4.5 million to finance the MBO of Metropress from vendor, DMGT. The company publishes Antiques Trade Gazette, the must read Journal for the art and antiques trade that provides the latest in market information, news and analysis for antiques trade professionals and collectors in the UK. Matrix has taken a significant minority stake in the business as part of a £8 million funding package involving bank debt provided by HSBC.
Based in London and Chelmsford, The Gazette is acknowledged as the ‘Bible’ of the fine art and antiques industry As the first choice publication for auction industry advertising, The Gazette lists events at fairs and galleries and services, including packing, shipping, insurance and recruitment.  
Metropress has leveraged its existing auction house relationships by managing their catalogue requirements in print and on-line.  More recently it has launched a hosted on-line bidding service for smaller auction houses “Live Auctions.  The business currently employs around 50 people and its annual revenue is in excess of £6 million.
The experienced management team is led by existing Managing Director Anne Somers.  The team has been augmented by the introduction of one of the Matrix Operating Partners, Bob Fairchild, who has significant experience in the sector and will assist in developing the business in a number of new areas. Fairchild was previously Managing Director of a highly successful joint Matrix and 3i investment, Landmark Information Group, which was sold to DMGT.

Plastic Surgeon Fine Finishers

Matrix has invested £2 million to finance the management buyout of Plastic Surgeon Fine Finishers (Plastic Surgeon), the UK’s founder and market leader in providing cosmetic repair services to the UK construction and housing industry. Matrix provided an integrated debt and equity package and is taking an initial 30% stake in the business.
Based in Bovey Tracy near Exeter, Plastic Surgeon has developed a niche in servicing the construction and housing industry, with a cost reduction solution that is also environmentally friendly. Plastic Surgeon is the largest provider of repair services inside and outside the home to the construction and housing industry. Through constant innovation the company provides the widest range of repair techniques on the largest range of materials. The business has a leading customer base which includes the majority of the UK’s major national and regional house builders such as Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Bovis Homes. Clients in the commercial property market include ROK, Kier and Carillion Construction as well as in-home service providers such as British Gas. Plastic Surgeon has grown rapidly through continued investment in its own staff and it is the only company in the industry with a dedicated training centre. Currently it employs 160 people and its annual revenue is £6 million. The MBO team, led by the Managing Director, Rob Mouser, has been one of the main driving forces in the business. Tim Ross, is the investing Chairman and has significant experience in the sector having previously been on the main board at George Wimpey and Chairman of Connaught, May Gurney and other companies.

Pasta King

Matrix has sold its investment in Pasta King, the provider of healthy, pasta-based quick service meal alternatives. Pasta King has been sold to a management buy-in team funded by NBGI Private Equity for £13 million.  The sale represents a return of 3.2 times money on the original investment of £1.8 million and an IRR of 47% for MPEP.

MPEP originally acquired Pasta King in 2006, following an MBO led by two of Pasta King’s directors, Sue Davenport and Paul Haigney, supported by Chairman, Ashley Levinson. PastaKing is based in Newton Abbot, Devon and is a multi-award winning business. Sue Davenport was recently crowned ‘Woman Chief Executive Officer of the Year’ at the inaugural British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) CEO of the Year Awards. Pasta King also won six awards in 2008, including the award for Small to Medium Sized UK Business of the Year at the National Business Awards. The business employs 71 staff and has an annual turnover of £12 million. Since MPEP’s investment, turnover has doubled and staff numbers have increased by over 50%.

MPEP Partner Bob Henry said “When we invested, we anticipated that the Jamie Oliver healthy eating campaign would benefit Pasta King. CEO, Sue Davenport has been central in driving business development into new sectors by repositioning the company to caterers as a credible and key player in the healthy meals market. Chairman and MPEP Operating Partner, Ashley Levinson has been instrumental in guiding Pasta King's expansion and delivering the excellent return for all shareholders."

This is the eighth successful cash exit for Matrix in just over two years.

Matrix has sold Tottel Publishing, a publisher of high quality books on law and tax and information services for lawyers, accountants and business professionals, to Bloomsbury Publishing plc, the publishers of the Harry Potter novels, for £10 million. The £3 million proceeds for MPEP represent a return of 4 times its original investment of £750,000. MPEP originally acquired Tottel with its management in October 2004, from LexisNexis, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier. The business, based in Haywards Heath, Sussex, employs 27 staff. Annual turnover of just over £6 million has grown around 80% since investment. The business is run by three highly successful entrepreneurs, managing director Jim Smith, publishing director, Sarah Thomas and finance director, Jill Williams. The company is chaired by Iain Livingston; one of MPEP’s operating partners. Mike Walker, a partner at MPEP who was on the board of Tottel said: “Tottel is a simple honest growth story. Buy a good business with a real niche at a sensible entry price, back quality managers who grow revenues and profits and sell at a sensible exit price. This is the MPEP strategy that works whatever the point in the cycle.”

“Our fourfold return has been achieved despite a weak divestment market, but reflects the fact that Tottel is a high quality asset. Bloomsbury will now take the company to the next stage in its development. We wish them and the Tottel team every success”.

This is the 7th successful cash exit for MPEP in the last two years.

Holloway White Allom

Matrix has re-capitalised the up-market construction business Holloway White Allom using £5 million of the company’s surplus cash and a £12 million debt package from Lloyds TSB.
Together with an earlier refinancing in 2005, the deal has delivered a 5x cash multiple and locked in a minimum 81% IRR for MPEP. In this transaction, Matrix’s shareholding has increased from 17 per cent to 21 per cent as some of the original management team has retired.
Holloway White Allom is a leading provider of specialist services to the high-end residential and commercial market covering construction (refurbishment and new build), maintenance, turnkey projects, special projects and audio visual/security and has a history dating back to 1882. It constructed some of London’s landmark buildings including The Old Bailey and The Bank of England. 2007 turnover was £67 million. Although there is uncertainty about some areas of the construction industry, Holloway White Allom reports unprecedented demand for its services.
Matrix invested £1 million to back the management buyout of Holloway White Allom, led by its Managing Director and Finance Director, Bob Cole and Nigel Diver in November 2004.
The re-capitalisation was managed on behalf of MPEP by Partner, Bob Henry, who commented, “Holloway White Allom is a fantastic company with a superb management team. Our investors have enjoyed an excellent return, but with Bob and Nigel continuing to drive the business, we think the best is yet to come”.
MPEP Chief Executive, Mark Wignall commented, “Holloway White Allom is a model case study of why buyouts are best. Under Bob and Nigel’s stewardship, turnover, operating profits and employee numbers have doubled. The MBO investment has already created seven management millionaires and made Matrix VCT investors 5X. And, at 21%, we now have a higher share stake in the Company than when we first invested!”
This is the fifth successful exit for MPEP in 2008 following its recent realisations in BBI Holdings, Ministry of Cake, Gyro and Apollo Lifts.

Apollo Lifts Holdings

Matrix has sold its stake in Apollo Lifts holdings Ltd (Apollo), one of the UK's leading independent lift contractors, for £4 million as part of a secondary buy out to Iceni Capital, realising 3 times its original investment and an IRR of 34 per cent. The investment in 2004 and subsequent exit were made on behalf of MPEP’s client, the Baring English Growth Fund.  This is the fourth successful exit for Matrix in 2008 following its recent realisations in BBI Holdings, Ministry of Cake and Gyro.  Altium Capital acted as financial adviser on the transaction.
Matrix originally invested £1.6 million in Apollo in 2004.  MPEP has supported the management’s strategy of growing the business organically rather than through acquisition and since the buyout in 2004 employee numbers have increased by over 40 per cent.  Apollo was founded over twenty five years ago, and the current management team led by Managing Director Martin Bettridge, has been running the business successfully for the last ten years.  John Brandon, who was MPEP’s Non Executive Director throughout and led the exit, said: “This has been a very successful investment. The management team’s dedication has enabled the business to grow its turnover from £7 million in 2004 to £13.1 million in 2007.  Lift repair and maintenance is a growing area within the Service sector and one that is less exposed to the current economic climate.”Other successful exits for the Baring English Growth Fund include: Secure Mail Services: realised 3.8 times original investment in September 2006 and an IRR of 40% and BBI – realised 3.7x original investment in January 2008 and an IRR of 27%.

Gyro International

Matrix has realised over 3.2 times its original investment in Gyro, Europe’s leading B2B marketing services business.  Matrix received £2.4 million from the sale following an investment in 2005 generating an IRR of 50 per cent. This is the third successful full cash exit for MPEP inside a month following its recent realisations in BBI Holdings and Ministry of Cake.
Matrix originally invested £750k in Gyro alongside co-investors to buy out one of the original founders. Gyro has made five acquisitions since the original investment as well as expanding geographically and opening offices across Europe and the US.   The exit has been facilitated by an investment of over £50m from a US private equity house. The investor has taken a significant stake in Gyro with the intention of driving further international growth both organically and through acquisition. Ashley Broomberg, who led the deal for Matrix said: “This has been a very successful investment as a result of the drive and ambition of the management team of Gyro, led by Gary Brine and Richard Glasson, who have done an extraordinary job in achieving this realisation. The business is now recognised as a leading Integrated Communications Agency in Europe and we have no doubt that their recent financial successes and rapid growth is set to continue.”

Matrix have raised £7.2 million for the Matrix Income & Growth 2 VCT through a C Share Offer

Matrix completed its fundraising for The Income & Growth VCT in April 2008, raising c £12 million. Total funds under management are c.£140 million

Matrix completed its fundraising for its Matrix Income & Growth 4 VCT in April 2007, raising c £15 million. Total funds under management are £130 million

The Insider Media Dealmakers South East 2010 Awards saw Chris Price awarded Venture Capitalist of the Year 2010. Chris Price, who recently joined Matrix from Foresight, was recognised for securing funding for the buyout of Diagnos from Octopus in the thick of the credit crisis.

The CEO of recently exited Matrix portfolio company PastaKing was recognised at the inaugural BVCA 'CEO of the Year Awards'. Sue Davenport, CEO of PastaKing won ‘Woman CEO of the Year’ at the National Finals held in London. South-West based PastaKing, a provider of healthy pasta meals, has achieved strong growth following Matrix’s backing.

Matrix was awarded the ‘VCT Manager of the Year’ title – at the unquote” British Private Equity Awards in November 2008. The awards celebrate excellence and innovation in the dynamic UK private equity sector and are synonymous with the values that have made unquote” the industry’s most trusted source of private equity information.The fourth annual unquote” British Private Equity Awards covered the entire private equity cycle and rewarded innovation and flair by companies and individuals who have contributed tangible and measurable success within their sector of the industry over the last twelve months.

Matrix Private Equity Partners won South East Private Equity Firm of the Year and Jonathan Gregory won South East Venture Capitalist of the Year for the second year running at the Insider Media Dealmakers South East 2009 Awards.

The Insider Media Dealmakers South East 2008 Awards saw Jonathan Gregory win the award for Private Equity / Venture Capitalist of the Year. 400 financiers converged for the second annual awards dinner on 7 February and the winner was voted for prior to the event with each firm entitled to one vote. Jonathan Gregory is a founding partner of the team at Matrix Private Equity and the win is testament to his hard work and admirable achievements in 2007. Matrix Private Equity was also short listed for the Private Equity / Venture Capital Firm of the year award.

Short listed three years running VCT Manager of the Year at the Investor Allstars Venture Capital Awards. Winner 2005 and 2006.

Short listed three years running in the ‘Small Buy Out House of the Year’ category at the unquote” Private Equity Awards. Highly Commended award 2006.

Matrix was also shortlisted for the 'House of the Year' award at the 2006 BVCA/Real Deals Private Equity Awards.

Matrix Private Equity Partners has been named Venture Capital Firm of the Year at the Western Daily Press South West Deal Awards held on 12th October 2006. Matrix's Bob Henry also won the Individual Venture Capitalist award.