Tushingham Sails owns the world-leading inflatable Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) brand Red Paddle Co. Red Paddle is the world’s only dedicated inflatable SUP brand, sold in 60 countries. 

The Deal

We provided £4 million as a combined debt and equity package to allow the business to maintain its leading position in an attractive and growing niche in the watersports sector.

The Plan

The global SUP market is in a significant growth phase. The funding will allow the business to invest in working capital to fund further international growth.

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Master Removers Group provides specialist and extremely well-regarded logistics, storage and removals services to international businesses and domestic consumers alike. Its iconic Aussie Man & Van and Anthony Ward Thomas brands are well known across London, with MRG counting Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom and the Archbishop of Canterbury as clients.

The Deal

We invested £7.2 million in MRG in December 2014 to support an equity release for the shareholders of the business. Our funding was provided as a combined debt and equity package. Management was attracted to us as high levels of rollover and strong fixed asset cover enabled us to construct a deal that saw them retain a majority stake in the business post completion. Extremely strong cash generation at MRG enabled the entirety of our loan stock to be repaid in January 2016 and dividend payments to commence just 13 months after the original buyout.

The Plan

MRG is run by a high-quality management team with strong operational capabilities and a proven track record in making astute, add-on acquisitions, the latter of which was a key component of the strategy adopted for the group post completion. Since our investment, MRG has made five acquisitions to accelerate its expansion outside London and into the West of England. Taken together, the business has increased utilisation of its warehouse, vehicle and labour resources in turn increasing its turnover, profitability and cash generation substantially since the investment was made. 

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One of the UK’s leading wholesale communications infrastructure providers, Entanet uses third party networks to deliver a wide range of connectivity and telecommunication products and services to small business customers. 

The Deal

We originally backed CEO Elsa Chen and her management team in the MBO of Entanet in February 2014, committing a total of £9.5m and introducing experienced Chairman Richard Atkins to the Board. In 2017, we realised our investment in a £29m sale to CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings plc. 

The Impact

Since the original investment, the Entanet management team  worked with us to refine their business model and introduce new products and services. As a result, annual revenues grew from £27m to £36m at the time of the sale. The deal with CityFibre delivered an initial return of 2.5x for Mobeus-advised funds, with potential for this to increase to in excess of 2.7x over the next two years. Initial IRR to shareholders was 38.7%, potentially increasing to 40.9%.

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Award-winning The Gro Company invented the Grobag Baby Sleep Bag, approved by The Lullaby Trust. Having sold over three million Grobags worldwide, Gro is known as the ‘official baby sleep bag’ brand and has expanded its product range across nursery care and sleep solutions.

The Deal

We backed the MBO of Gro from the original founders in March 2013, investing £7.1m as a Combined Debt and Equity package. We worked alongside the management team to professionalise and expand the business, introducing Chairman Jules Hydleman with a strong record in consumer brands. In 2018, the business was sold to Mayborn Group, the owner of the tommee tippee brand, for an enterprise value of £22m.

The Impact

Following the MBO, Gro launched a range of new products and expanded internationally. It now sells in more than 25 countries. The exit represented a total return of over 2x money and an IRR of over 20%.

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Automated Systems Group is a leading provider of printing and copying solutions to SMEs and the education sector. ASL was founded in 1991 and manages over 5,000 customers from its nine offices across East Anglia, the Midlands, London and the South of England.

The Deal

Mobeus backed ASL in 2010, as a buy-and-build platform in a large, mature but fragmented industry. Supported by Mobeus, ASL’s management team pursued an M&A programme, as well as achieving organic growth, to consolidate its market position. It has completed ten acquisitions, most recently of ICA in February 2018 and of Geerings in November 2018. In June 2019, we sold our investment in a secondary buyout backed by Primary Capital Partners.

The Impact

ASL more than trebled EBITDA over the investment period and now employs 158 people (up from 60 in 2010). The sale to Primary represents a 2.2x money multiple on the Mobeus total investment of £9.7 million. 

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Creative Graphics International is a leading designer and supplier of technical self-adhesive branding solutions to the automotive and aerospace sectors.

The Deal

We led the buyout of CGI. The vendor had handed over operational control to the managing director and was keen to partially realise value, but also to benefit from the future potential of the business. We introduced experienced management to work with the incumbent team to deliver this objective.

We have provided a combined debt and equity investment of £6.2 million as part of a £11.3 million deal, investing alongside both existing and new management and a significant rollover from the vendor. This was a complex transaction as a result of the buy-in element of the deal as well as the company having a large manufacturing operation in Cape Town, South Africa. We also introduced a South African co-investment partner in order to provide local expertise and resource on the ground.

At an early stage in the transaction, we introduced Operating Partner and automotive industry specialist Kevin Finn, who joined as investing Executive Chairman. We also introduced buy-in Sales Director Mel Goodliffe and Finance Director Simon Barrell.

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Equip Outdoor Technologies is the owner of the Rab range of performance clothing.

The Deal

Mobeus provided finance to enable Equip to acquire the Lowe Alpine clothing and rucksack brand from its Italian administrator. We worked alongside a leading clearing bank, providing £4.5m of equity investment as part of an overall £20 million funding package. We also introduced a Chairman at completion with a strong background in the clothing, textiles and branded sectors.

The Impact

The business grew significantly with its core Rab brand gaining market share and growing in the USA – taking EBITDA to over £18 million.

The Realisation

In 2022, Mobeus sold its stake in Equip back to management generating a money multiple of 6.9x. This asset was held by the Mobeus VCTs which were sold to Gresham House in September 2021.

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Jablite is the UK’s largest producer of expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation products.

The Deal

Jablite was a subsidiary of a larger European EPS maker, which was sold piecemeal by its private equity owners. We provided a combined debt and equity investment of £5 million in addition to arranging a £16.5 million sale and leaseback of the company’s property portfolio. This was a complex transaction that included separation of the UK operations from that of its European parent and the carve-out of two defined benefit pension schemes.

The Plan

The investment was significantly de-risked with £3.5 million of the £5 million investment being repaid to the VCTs within five months of completing the deal, at a time when the UK construction market was recovering from a low point during the recession. The focus is now on seeking fresh ways to engineer the product to reduce manufacturing costs.

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