Management buy-in at Lawrence Tomlinson’s business
Two directors at a firm founded and operated by serial entrepreneur Lawrence Tomlinson have completed a Management Buy-In.
LNT Software Directors, Fiona Hale, Managing Director, and Leigh Ellis, Technical Director have successfully led a management buy-in of CoolCare. The deal sees the management team of the firm, which last reported a turnover of £1m, take executive control of the business and acquire shareholdings from parent company LNT Group (LNT). LNT was founded by Lawrence Tomlinson and incorporates several divisions.
Following the completion of the deal, LNT will act as investor and provide non-executive support to the management team. The company has been renamed CoolCare Ltd, losing its close association with the LNT brand.
Over the next five years, CoolCare plans to continue to specialise in care home management software, building on partnerships with complimentary software providers in the sector in fields such as care planning, eLearning and eMAR systems.
Hale said: “Being part of the LNT Group has given CoolCare an abundance of experience from our sister companies’ operational knowledge of running care homes. CoolCare has an undeniable competitive edge when designing our software. It is an amazing product derived from decades of sector knowledge. CoolCare has been a small fish within the LNT pond. The MBI gives us the best of both worlds: LNT is giving Leigh and me the autonomy to run the business, but is staying on hand to offer advice when needed.
“We love CoolCare so are hugely grateful to Lawrence, and the LNT Board, for their support of the MBI.”
Ellis said: “There are over 700 care homes using CoolCare products. Our latest product, CoolCare4, is the only specialist care home management software available on the market. Whilst it’s still in the early days of roll-out, there will already be over 100 care homes using CoolCare4 by the end of 2018. Building on our specialism and delighting our customers with our user-friendly new features is core to our plan going forward. We’ll be continuing our investment in the development team to ensure we take centre stage of the care software ecosystem.”
LNT Chairman and original founder of LNT Software, Lawrence Tomlinson, said: “Fiona and Leigh have a passion for CoolCare – you see their eyes light up as they demo it and test their design ideas with you. The vision they have for the business is inspiring. I’ve worked with them both for many years and trust them to give CoolCare the attention it deserves to make it a real success. We are using CoolCare4 in Ideal Carehomes and it’s really revolutionising the business, helping us to reduce costs and boost occupancy.”
LNT Group was advised by Stephen Moore of Cavu Corporate Finance.
