Endless secures biggest deal to date
ENDLESS has aquired £100m-plus turnover business Liberata in a deal which marks the private equity firm’s first transaction in London and its biggest to date.
Liberata is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of business processing outsourcing services to the public sector through its 20 business centres in the UK.
Turnaround investor Endless, which is headquartered in Leeds and has offices in Birmingham, Manchester and London, is to provide more than £20m of new funding to support the growth of the business.
Liberata, employs more than 2,000 people with a core focus of improving and streamlining complex operational processes to drive costs savings and transform service management for local authorities and central government departments.
Major clients include contracts with the Ministry of Justice and several of the largest local authorities in the UK.
Endless is backing the incumbent management team of Liberata’s chief executive Dermot Joyce and chief financial officer Martin Trainer.
Mr Joyce and Mr Trainer both joined Liberata over the last 16 months to restructure and build the business, focusing on current clients and on new growth opportunities in the public sector.
Garry Wilson, managing partner of Endless, said: “This is a landmark deal for Endless, representing both our biggest investment to date and our first deal in London.
“We are delighted to back such a strong management team with capability, track record and ambition to capitalise on the continued growth trend in public sector for professional managed services.”
Mr Joyce said: “For all our clients, employees and partners this transaction and new investment from Endless means we are better positioned to pursue our ambitious future. I thank the company’s board of directors for their exceptional support and commitment to the company over the last several years.”
The Endless team included Chris Clegg, James Woolley, Simon Mason, Kerry Swain and Ian Plumb.
Endless was advised by Robin Johnson of Eversheds and Gordon Singer of PwC. Ernst & Young advised the company on the disposal process.
