News
Final closing of the Third Alcuin Fund L.P.
07th November, 2011
Alcuin Capital Partners LLP has today announced the final closing of the Third Alcuin Fund L.P. which closed on target with £100 million in commitments.
Alcuin specialises in making £2-10 million investments in growth capital and buyout transactions in UK companies valued between £5 and £30 million across all sectors.
The team was founded by Mark Storey and Ian Henderson-Londoño after leaving BancBoston Capital and was recently joined by Adrian Lurie, with whom the founders have a long standing and successful working relationship. From its earlier funds, Alcuin made investments in successful companies such as Caffè Nero, one of the UK’s largest coffee retailers, Glide Technologies, a PR software business and Adapt, one of the UK’s fastest growing hosting and managed services companies.
The Third Alcuin Fund has already made five investments: Agrivert, a leading organic waste recycling and waste-to-energy company; AudioGo, the UK’s leading audiobook publisher; Tasker & Partners, a Lloyd’s insurance broker; Osprey, a niche publishing house; and Krispy Kreme, the UK’s leading high end doughnut retailer.
Commitments were made by a number of existing and new institutional investors and family offices across the UK, Europe and the US.
Elm Capital Associates Ltd acted as exclusive placement agent.
For more information, please contact:
Ian Henderson-Londono at Alcuin on +44 (0) 203 178 4089
Etienne Deshormes at Elm Capital +44 (0) 207 901 8941
Alcuin exits Glide Technologies
21st October, 2011
Alcuin Capital Partners is pleased to announce that it has exited its investment in Glide Technologies, a leading London-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider specialising in corporate communications and reputation management, in a sale to NASDAQ OMX. Glide Technologies will be integrated into NASDAQ OMX's Corporate Solutions to create the first and only fully-integrated workflow solution for investor relations and public relations professionals. Alcuin first backed Glide Technologies and its CEO, Sam Phillips, in 2008.
Glide Technologies was founded in 2003 to provide online newsrooms to large corporate customers such as Sony, Honda, NBC Universal and PwC. From there, the business expanded its offering to include journalist relationship management, content management, contact databases, distribution and coverage-tracking.
As the Internet continued to influence the media and communications landscape, Glide Technologies developed tools to manage social media and blogger relations. The company has recently developed its latest product, GlideIntelligence, as a real-time high-volume sentiment analysis measurement platform that encompasses both traditional and social media.
Alcuin investment in Krispy Kreme UK
14th October, 2011
Alcuin is pleased to announce its investment in Krispy Kreme UK the leading retailer of premium quality doughnuts, in a management buyout that will support its ambitious growth plans.
Krispy Kreme opened its first UK store in London in October 2003 and has since opened 45 stores across the UK, in key cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol. The company also operates more than 350 in-store cabinets with retail partners including Tesco. Over the next four years, the company will focus on growing its core business, which will take its total number of UK sites to 80 by 2015.
Richard Cheshire, joint managing director of Krispy Kreme UK, said: "We are delighted to bring Alcuin into the Krispy Kreme family in the UK, and look forward to working with Mark Storey and the team going forward."
Alcuin exits Adapt
28th September, 2011
Alcuin Capital Partners has exited its investment in Adapt, a leading UK managed IT services provider, through an acquisition by Lyceum Capital. The transaction represents a successful exit for Alcuin, who first backed Adapt in an MBO led by Peter Knight in 2006.
Peter Knight founded the company in 2001, as the network services division of a family-owned office products business. Originally branded Mnet, the company developed a very successful hosting and co-location business with revenues of £7 million by 2006.
Rebranded Adapt in 2007, growth continued to be very strong and the product set was expanded to include managed services. The £6 million acquisition of Centric Telecom also increased revenues significantly.
Adapt continued to grow to revenues in excess of £30 million, and this was recognised by its inclusion for four years running in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 league table which lists the fastest-growing privately owned TMT businesses in the UK.
Alcuin hires new partner
5th July, 2011
Alcuin is pleased to announce that Adrian Lurie has joined as a Partner. Adrian, a former Partner of Indigo Capital LLP who focused on UK transactions, has previously worked with the Partners at Alcuin on a number of highly successful deals including Menzies Hotels and Sorex Holdings.
"We are delighted that Adrian is joining us in the next phase of development at Alcuin", commented Ian Henderson-Londoño. "Both Mark Storey and I have known Adrian for over ten years, and have enjoyed a very successful working relationship together. As we begin to invest the Third Alcuin Fund which held a first closing in January 2011, we are very pleased that he has decided to join us at Alcuin."
Investment in Osprey Publishing
17th June, 2011
Alcuin Capital Partners today announced its development capital investment, alongside existing private equity investors Botts Capital, in Osprey Publishing Ltd the world’s leading publisher of specialist illustrated books on a wide range of military topics. Based in Oxford, Osprey was founded in 1968 and is led by Managing Director Rebecca Smart.
Originally the business focussed on military publishing however, more recently, Osprey have expanded their offering into other niche imprints including heritage and fantasy. Our investment will facilitate further growth both organically and through acquisition.
Investment in Tasker Ventures
4th May, 2011
Alcuin is pleased to announce its investment in Tasker Ventures Limited, a company formed to acquire a controlling stake in Tasker & Partners, a successful Lloyds insurance broker.
The business plan for Tasker is to continue the successful organic growth strategy as well as acquiring other speciality insurance brokers in the UK.
Alcuin holds closing on new fund
19th January, 2011
Alcuin Capital Partners LLP has reached a closing with £81 million of commitments on its third private equity fund, The Third Alcuin Fund LP. Alcuin makes £2-10 million growth capital and buyout investments in UK companies valued between £5 and £30 million across all sectors.
The team, led by Mark Storey and Ian Henderson-Londoño, who together founded Alcuin in 2002 after leaving BancBoston Capital, have made investments in successful companies such as Caffè Nero, one of the UK’s fastest growing retail food and beverage franchises, and Adapt, one of the UK’s fastest growing hosting and managed services companies.
The Third Alcuin Fund has already made two investments: the first in Agrivert, a leading organic waste recycling and waste-to-energy company, and the second in AudioGo, the UK’s leading audiobook publisher which was recently acquired from BBC Worldwide.
The fund is backed by a diverse group of institutional investors and family offices, including Alliance Trust Equity Partners, the European Investment Fund, Parish Capital Advisors, RenditeWertBeteiligungen (RWB) and a leading UK insurance company. Alcuin expects to hold a final closing on the fund, which has a target of £100 million by the end of 2011. Elm Capital Associates Ltd is acting as exclusive placement agent.
Latest Investment
Krispy Kreme UK
Krispy Kreme UK, the leading retailer of premium quality doughnuts.