Foresight backs ICA buy-out
Article Date: Mar 11 2009Document management company ICA Group has undergone a management buy-out (MBO) backed by funds from venture capitalist Foresight.
Foresight invested £2 million in the transaction, with Royal Bank of Scotland providing a £2 million ‘long-term loan’. The balance comes from the MBO team, which is led by managing director Simon Whapshott along with sales director Bob Price and acting finance director Rita Fraser. As part of the deal, private equity investor Andy Nash joins the company’s board as non-executive chairman.
Surrey-based ICA will use the extra funds to double the size of its sales team and ramp up marketing efforts in an attempt to expand rapidly. The company, whose core business is reselling office printing equipment, is eyeing a number of potential acquisitions.
Sonia Powar, an investment director at Foresight who led the deal, comments, ‘ICA is a strong, cash-generative, high margin business with a sustainable and growing customer base.’
ICA employs 17 staff, including seven full-time service engineers. Some 58 per cent of its turnover comes from sales of Toshiba and Ricoh equipment, with another 37 per cent coming from servicing and maintenance.
