Championing business ambition in the West Midlands

Ayesha Ali, Investment Manager at LDC in the West Midlands, told TheBusinessDesk.com some of the ways the private equity investor is supporting the region’s ambitious management teams.

Perfect platform for business growth

Birmingham has emerged as a leading destination for dynamic and fast-growth businesses. The city has benefitted from high levels of inward investment in recent years and has one of the most diverse populations in the UK.

For over 30 years, LDC has partnered with more than 150 management teams across the West Midlands, investing more than £1.1bn. The team all live and work in the region and understand the importance of backing ambitious management teams.

We invest time getting out to meet with the region’s fantastic range of businesses and the professional services community. That’s one of the things I love most about my job; meeting passionate management teams and hearing their unique stories and ambitions for their businesses.

Creating value that lasts

We recently backed Ross Trustees on its merger with Independent Trustee Services to create Independent Governance Group (IGG), the UK’s leading pension trustee and governance firm, with a combined value of more than £340bn of assets under governance.

LDC initially partnered with the management team of Ross Trustees in 2020 to support the company’s organic growth strategy. We then invested additional capital to fund the merger with IGG in February this year and are now supporting the management team at IGG to realise the full potential of the merger, providing them with extra bandwidth through our team of Value Creation Partners.

Our team of Value Creation Partners are experts in strategy and support our portfolio companies throughout the whole lifecycle of an investment. With more than 150 years’ experience of operational, technology and commercial leadership combined, the team draws on what’s worked best at the businesses they’ve worked at, which is hugely valuable to our portfolio in areas including pricing and marketing, digital transformation, international expansion, ESG strategies, buy & build and more.

Just three weeks after the IGG merger, we helped IGG to acquire Clarity Trustees, to further expand the newly formed Group’s client base and professional team, which was then followed by the acquisition of creative communications agency, like minds, in June. Both transactions demonstrate the flexibility of our approach to buy-and-build strategies, as we can support larger acquisitions as well as acquihire bolt-ons to help our portfolio grow their service offering.

This is just one example of why we’re a trusted investment partner for ambitious management teams.

Collaborative and supportive local network

We pride ourselves on the strength of our regional network and, with the majority of our Birmingham-based team having grown up in the West Midlands, we’re uniquely placed to help the business leaders and management teams on our doorstep to capitalise on growth opportunities and to achieve their ambitions.

Along with embracing inclusiveness and diversity, the business community here is truly collaborative, and it’s enjoyable being surrounded by a network of experienced and super talented people.

I was recently delighted to host LDC’s first Women in Corporate Finance Breakfast, right here in Birmingham. The event brought together inspirational speakers from across the corporate finance community, and a lively discussion covered everything from overcoming stumbling blocks, grabbing opportunities to embracing life outside of your comfort zone and the importance of a strong support network.

Pleasingly, a theme that was clear throughout was the value of the friendships in the room, and the camaraderie and collaboration of our local business community.

LDC is a sponsor of The Business Desk’s West Midlands Business of the Year Awards. Find out more and enter here.