Buyout and turnaround fund Endless is already making an impact in the North West deals market, just days after opening its Manchester office on King Street.
Investment directors Warwick Ley, a former director in Ernst & Young's transaction advisory services team in Manchester, and Gary Davison , former founder of asset-based lender Enterprise Finance Europe, are planning to recruit two more dealmakers to their team.
The pair expect to announce three deals with North West companies in the next few months and their remit is to seek out investment opportunities in the small and mid-corporate market with debt and equity injections of between £500,000 and £20,000,000.
Endless was set up in Yorkshire by ex-Ernst & Young partner Garry Wilson in December 2005. The firm provides investment and financial advice to support buyout, turnaround and refinancing situations with equity and debt injections. It makes its own investment decisions and is supported by private investment from a single individual, raising an initial fund of £10Om to invest
Ley joined in February this year, then Davison arrived shortly afterwards, in search of smaller pastures than Bank of Ireland's €lbn asset-based lending arm, which also includes Burdale Financial, bought by the bank in January 2005.
“Burdale coming in pushed the bank's position in the asset-based lending market to a whole new level and it became a more mainstream product for the bank,” he says. "I spoke to Garry Wilson about Endless and we both said that if we didn’t do it now, others would jump in. The market is polarised between debt deals at a certain level and private equity wanting big returns. There was a gap in the market for people to generate immediate value and that’s where my skills always lay”.
Their work encompasses: turnaround; management buyouts of established businesses whose growth potential is not enough to satisfy the big boys of private equity; and deals related to refinancing and the re-engineering of balance sheets, the area in which Davison and Ley see the most opportunities.
"There are a lot of great businesses that are not necessarily in double-digit growth, which would attract the likes of IDC and Montagu," explains Warwick Ley. "We support these fundamentally good businesses. Some may be businesses from highly leveraged buyouts of a few years ago.”
Davison adds: "Deals in the past three or four years have seen expertise in banks grow and while nine or ten of their deals worked, one wont have and that's where we will see a lot of growth. But we want to avoid being seen as a vulture fund. We invest in good businesses with good people and strong earning streams and our money helps to get them to the next stage”.
Endless is prepared to take a medium or long-term view, returning to companies in later months with further financial injections. The firm prides itself on the ability to complete deals within 48 hours if required, a nimbleness afforded by its size and by the nature of its investor.
Endless has a team of 11 people across Leeds and Manchester. In February it invested £2m in Neville Johnson Offices, the furniture company based in TraffordPark, in a secondary management buyout.
Further information:
Endless LLP
Gary Davison
Investment Director
+44 (0) 7887 625110
gary.davison@endlessllp.com
GlynWebb
George Marcall
Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0) 161 621 4500
Tim Baker
Finance and Operations Director
+44 (0) 161 621 4500
Media enquiries:
Capital MS&L
Peter Curtain
peter.curtain@capitalmsl.com
+44 (0) 20 7307 5330
www.capitalmsl.com
Notes to editors:
Endless LLP
Endless provides investment and financial advice to support buyout, turnaround and re-financing situations with equity and debt injections. Based in Leeds, the firm prides itself on its market-leading speed combined with ultra-efficient service. Endless makes its own investment decisions, without any need for approval by a credit committee. Supported by private investment, Endless has raised an initial fund of £100 million to invest.
GlynWebb
GlynWebb is Britain's largest independent DIY and home improvement retailer. The store portfolio consists of 27 sites based as far North as Sunderland to as far South as Colchester. Currently the company has approximately 650 employees and is based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. GlynWebb is very proud of its ability to offer quality products and major brands in the latest styles at affordable prices. The company aspires to make stylish living attainable for everybody. Recently the quality of the company's operations has been recognised by the DIY industry's annual Retail Awards with GlynWebb winning Best Independent D?cor Retailer in 2003, Best Retail Marketing / Advertising Initiative in 2004 and Best Retail Training Initiative 2005.
http://www.glynwebb.co.uk/
Back to all News