The Translation People is a leading UK provider of language services (including translation, interpretation, voice over) to large corporates and SMEs. The business provides critical language services to a range of end industries using a combination of technology and specialist international linguists.

From offices across the UK, France and Germany, The Translation People is well placed to provide reliable, responsive and high quality services to clients across the globe.

The Deal

Mobeus invested £12.4 million in a combined debt and equity package to support the MBO of the business from the founding shareholders. Mobeus are supporting the existing Management team led by Jasmin Schneider and introduced Steve Dolton as Chair as part of the Investment.  

The Plan

Under Mobeus’ investment, The Translation People will accelerate organic growth through investment into sales and marketing whilst enhancing scalability through investment into the operational workflow platform. Alongside organic growth the business will pursue inorganic growth through the acquisition of smaller language service providers as well as specialist providers across the UK and Europe.

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GW Global Insights is a leading provider of news, insights and data to the industrial gases industry. Its “Gasworld” brand (www.gasworld.com) is regarded as the go-to platform for the $100 billion market and has established a global client base for its publications, worldwide events and business intelligence products. The growing importance of hydrogen in the low-carbon economy led GWGI to create and develop “H2 View” in 2019, focusing on four key pillars of technology, mobility, power and policy. H2 View has grown rapidly since inception and is already considered a leading source of sector insight.

The Deal

Mobeus provided a combined debt and equity package to support the MBO of the business from its founder. The management team led by CEO, Martyn Hammond, will continue to lead the business through its next phase of growth.

The Plan

Mobeus will support GWGI in continuing to provide high-quality content whilst promoting the development of its business intelligence offerings, digital content and marketing services as well as rapidly expanding its portfolio of events.

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Gungho Marketing is a sales-outsourcing and appointment-setting business focused on the Regulatory Technology sector. Using a combination of telemarketing and email marketing, Gungho identifies corporate buyers of regulatory and compliance solutions from its proprietary database, and then sets up qualified sales appointments with client sales representatives.

From offices in Dorchester and North Carolina, the business serves a diverse customer base with international reach, covering both some of the largest providers of compliance solutions in the world, as well as smaller PE and VC funded challengers.

The Deal

Mobeus invested £8.8 million in a combined debt and equity package to support the MBO of the business from the Founder. Mobeus has introduced Mark Kirwan as Executive Chair.

The Plan

Gungho is a clear market leader in RegTech. Under Mobeus’s investment the business will invest in its operations to enhance scalability, continue to build its proprietary database, and expand its offering into related verticals such as Legal Technology and Tax Technology.

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The Insight Collective is a technology-focused provider of content syndication and lead generation services. Using a combination of research, content, AI and data science capabilities, Insight Collective identifies corporate buyers with a verified interest in its client’s service or product, from a combination of proprietary and third-party data sources.

From its offices in the UK, US and South Africa, the business serves a diversified and high-quality client base, representing both some of the largest technology and professional services businesses in the world as well as smaller high-growth VC and PE backed challengers.

The Deal

Mobeus invested £17.7 million in a combined debt and equity package to support the MBO of the business, with the incumbent team acquiring the business from its founders. Mobeus introduced Richard Atkins as Chairman as part of the process.

The Plan

Insight Collective will continue to invest in their technology platform, as well as continue to refine their data science and analytics capabilities. The business has grown rapidly to date achieving a 20% CAGR over the past five years. Further investment in technology and data analytics will enable the business to continue to grow at pace, delivering greater volumes of larger campaigns.

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Orbital provides wireless, fibre and leased line connectivity, voice services and internet managed services under its Orbital Net (B2B) and Vfast (B2C) brands. The business has built considerable fixed line and wireless telecommunications infrastructure in Kent over 20 years, and receives consistently high customer service ratings.

The Deal

Mobeus invested £11.25 million for a minority stake in the business. The transaction was led by Mobeus Investment Manager, Matt Gordon-Smith, who worked with Partner Richard Babington on the deal. Guy Blackburn, Mobeus Portfolio Partner, has joined the board to support Orbital in achieving its full potential. The deal was sourced by Investment Analyst, George Chatzimanolis, as part of Mobeus’s direct origination activities.

The Plan

Funding will fast track Orbital’s rollout of ultrafast fibre broadband, especially in rural areas of Kent, to meet the surge in data consumption and demand for high-bandwidth capacity; position the business to become a leading Internet Service Provider for Holiday Parks in the UK; and develop its bespoke B2B technology service offerings.

Demand for ever faster data from both consumers and businesses is a longstanding trend, which has only been accelerated by the enduring shifts in behaviour caused by the pandemic. While working, studying and leisure at home have steepened the upswing in residential demand, business connectivity needs have not been impacted, as employees still need rapid access to corporate systems.

However, the pandemic has exacerbated the stark disparity between internet speeds in rural areas compared to cities. With this significant new investment, Orbital will leverage its position as a leading independent ISP in Kent to roll out high-bandwidth network connectivity for underserved rural regions, as well as installing fibre infrastructure into local Business Parks, offering enhanced connectivity at lower cost.

In addition, Orbital aims to become a leading specialist ISP for Holiday Parks across the UK. The business has recently completed a significant project for Park Holidays Group, delivering ultrafast internet connectivity to 14,000 holiday homes and is well positioned to install infrastructure for other park operators and connect new customers across the country.

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ABL 1Touch provides accident damage repair services, primarily to large motor insurers. The business is known for its technical innovation, low cost and environmentally friendly ‘repair over replace’ methodology, and market-leading levels of customer satisfaction.

The Deal

Mobeus backed the incumbent ABL 1Touch management team, which had built the group to a 13-site network across Southern England, with a £9.5 million initial investment. The team is supported by experienced Non-Executive Chair Steve Dalton.

The Plan

ABL 1Touch doubled its turnover during the three years prior to the buyout and has a proven site rollout model, supported by its proprietary operational systems.

Following the buyout, Mobeus has supported further expansion of the regional footprint, as the business looks to almost double the number of operating sites during the investment term.

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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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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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MachineWorks is the leading developer of simulation and verification toolkit technology used in Computer Aided Manufacturing.

Original Deal

We originally invested £1.9m in the management buyout of Lightwork Design and Machineworks, a group of two companies known together as VSI Limited, in 2006. At the time, MachineWorks had a dominant market position supplying CAM software vendors and was starting to penetrate the machine tool market.

Impact

MachineWorks was consistently profitable and cash generative, leading to repayment of all of the MBO loans by 2011. The business made significant inroads with large machine tool customers enabling it to be seen as a strategic partner by these businesses.

Sale

In April 2014, the company was sold to a Europe-based trade buyer for an undisclosed sum.

Mobeus Returns

The investment returned nearly £7m to the Mobeus advised VCTs, generating a return of 4.1x cost.

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