£150m investment projects Radius founder up Rich List

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Advised on deals worth £300m in the first half of 2017

Crewe-based Radius Payment Solutions has received a £150m cash boost from Inflexion Private Equity.

Inflexion has taken a minority stake in the company which provides fuel monitoring, insurance and telematics to the UK’s lorry fleets, valuing it at £800m.

The company was founded in 1990 by former Esso petrol station worker Bill Holmes, 53, and the deal will see him overtake the Beckhams in The Sunday Times Rich List, the newspaper reported yesterday.

It said, based on this year’s rankings, the increase in his paper fortune would see Holmes slot in at about No 336 on the Rich List — ahead of household names such as David and Victoria Beckham, who have a combined net worth of £300m.

Radius has more than 1,000 staff and reported revenues of £2.3bn last year, with an operating profit of £39.6m.

It paid a £6.7m dividend, and ranked at No 35 on The Sunday Times Top Track listing of Britain’s biggest private firms.

Holmes said: “We’ve achieved rapid growth of customer numbers and revenue over the last few years through to the development of innovative new products and services, acquisitions and through expansion into new countries and markets.

“We’ve been exploring ways in which we can achieve the next stage of our growth and believe Inflexion Partnership Capital has the right culture, expertise and support to grow the business further with its exciting overseas network.”

David Whileman, head of partnership capital, Inflexion, said: “We knew Bill and his team considered many investment options and we are thrilled that they chose Inflexion Partnership Capital as their future partner.

“Radius is a high growth business with substantial international operations; this investment clearly demonstrates the entrepreneurial demand for a true minority investor. We look forward to supporting the company’s ambitious growth strategy.”

The Inflexion deal team comprised of David Whileman, Josh Kaufman, Edward Lynch and Nick Rosenberg.

Th EY team in Manchester, including Richard Harding, John Williams and Lisa Bardsley, performed vendor due diligence on behalf of Radius.

A team led by Tim Morris at Rothschild provided financial advice to Inflexion and GCA Altium provided debt advice on the transaction.

Phil Adams, chief executive at GCA Altium, said: “We’re delighted to have advised Inflexion on such a large, high profile North West transaction.

“This is the second major deal we have announced in the region in the last four weeks after the IPO of Footasylum and is a sign of the huge growth in our business in recent years, particularly following our merger last year which has given us a truly global platform with 15 offices in 10 countries.”

Barclays is the lead bank on the deal.

Martin Souter, relationship director for Barclays in Manchester, said: “Barclays is really pleased to continue our support of Radius Payment Solutions with this transaction, and look forward to supporting the Management Team and Inflexion in the years ahead.”