City Link was a mistake says Moulton

THE owner of the private equity firm which owned Coventry-based parcel delivery group City Link has admitted trying to turn the business around was a mistake.

Venture capitalist Jon Moulton injected £40m into the business when it was acquired from Rentokil in a £1 deal in 2013.

However, despite Better Capital’s management, the business failed and the owner attracted massive criticism when the company collapsed into administration on Christmas Eve.

Ultimately almost 2,700 people lost their jobs.

Moulton is hoping to recoup around half of his original investment into the City Link operation but this will depend on what administrators can secure from the failed assets.

Moulton made his admission during a submission to a joint Scottish Affairs and BIS select committee.

Reporting on the hearing, the Daily Telegraph quoted Moulton as saying you did have to be good at hindsight to see that buying City Link had been a mistake. He said the business was “damaged” and had lost Rentokil more than £300m.

He blamed the firm’s collapse on it being “too small a company in too difficult an industry”.

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