Private equity firm making good progress with string of investments and acquisitions

Manchester-based Beech Tree Private Equity today announces, following its latest bolt-on acquisition by portfolio company Learnlight, that it has hit a milestone.

It has now completed six new platform investments and 10 bolt-on acquisitions since the team launched the firm just under four years ago.

Paul Franks and Andy Marsh set the firm up in 2015 with a view to creating a more focused and agile private equity firm specifically focused on helping CEOs and founders to scale their technology and tech-enabled businesses through investment in organic growth and/or a number of strategic acquisitions.

Beech Tree PE’s investments and bolt-on acquisitions include:

• Bolton-based Fluent Money, a secured loan and mortgage broker, acquired Brytannic Extra Finance, a mortgages and equity release broker. This acquisition facilitated Fluent’s growth into these markets allowing it to build on its already dominant position as the leading online second loan broker in the UK;
• Wilmslow-based BCN Group, an SME-focused IT managed service provider. BCN’s strategy is to grow organically and to also acquire several scale and strategic acquisitions, the first of which is in exclusivity;
• RS Connect, a telematics and camera installation platform, acquired Edrive which provides insurance telematics installations and Signals which provides fleet camera and telematics installations;
• Wavenet, a UK-based Unified Communications consolidator, has made five acquisitions since Beech Tree PE invested making it one of the UK’s fastest-growing unified communications providers. The acquisitions include: Efuse, Talk Internet, APR, Swains and Solar Communications;
• Learnlight, a global online provider of virtual and digital language training solutions to large enterprises, has made two acquisitions since Beech Tree PE invested. The acquisitions include: UK-based Communciaid and Germany-based Arenalingua, a provider of corporate language training to large German corporates, which builds on Learnlight’s growing presence in the country and adds to the strategy of becoming the leading EdTech language training platform in Europe;
• Redstor, a data management solutions provider to global corporates, Redstor is looking for strategic acquisitions to supplement its organic growth across the data management space.

Andy Marsh, managing partner of Breech Tree PE, said: “We are pleased with the development of Beech Tree since we started the business. Overall, we have delivered on what we said we would do, and importantly, that is what we are known for in the market.

“We are not focused on building a huge portfolio of companies, but instead just want to back like-minded individuals who want to take their businesses to the next level.

“Our approach is not to be once-a-month board members but instead are very driven to help the founders and CEO’s of the business we back drive significant value.

“We are still looking for further acquisitions for our current portfolio businesses to drive further scale and strategic value,” he added.

Simon Kelf, chief executive of BCN Group, said: “We wanted an investor who saw us as more than just a portfolio company, we wanted an investment partner who could bring their buy-and-build experience to the board of BCN.

“We got this with Andy and Adam and they are helping us drive real momentum in our acquisition strategy. We are excited by the future and expect to announce our first acquisition over the coming months.”