ECI Partners backs Investis

London-based digital corporate communications firm Investis has secured funding from UK mid-market private equity firm ECI Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. Clarity and Osborne Clarke advised Investis on the transaction. According to the company, the financing will be used for growth.

PRESS RELEASE

London, 8 December 2014: ECI Partners (‘ECI’), the UK’s leading growth-focused, mid-market private equity firm, has invested in Investis, the leading independent global specialist in digital corporate communications. ECI will provide support and additional capital to the business to accelerate its global growth strategy.

Over the past two years, Investis has expanded rapidly by opening offices in the US (New York, San Francisco, and Palm Beach, Florida) and through the acquisitions of global3digital in the UK and Alert IR in the Nordic region. The funding from ECI will enable Investis to build on this success and to establish itself as the global leader in its market.

Headquartered in London, Investis provides digital services that enable companies to manage their corporate communications and investor relations. Investis has over a decade of expertise in managing digital corporate communications for public companies and has been one of the pioneers and innovators in this space. Investis currently works for more than 70% of the companies in the FTSE 100 and a total of nearly 2,000 clients across Europe and the US. Its clients include Alibaba, Anglo American, GE, BAE Systems, BMW, Capita, Chevron, EasyJet, GDF Suez, Novartis, Prudential and Rolls Royce.
Investis’ solutions enable companies to achieve joined up, multi-channel investor and corporate communications. This market continues to grow as companies shift their spending on corporate communications to online and digital formats, including video, webcasting, mobile apps and social media.

David Grigson will continue as chairman of Investis. He is also chairman of Trinity Mirror PLC, a non-executive director of Standard Life plc and the Senior Independent Director and non-executive director at Ocado Group plc.

Richard Chapman, Partner at ECI, commented:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Helen and her team at Investis as the company moves into its next growth phase. As a growth focused investor we were attracted to Investis by its market leading technology, strong management team and global platform, attributes that have driven its market penetration.”

Helen James, CEO of Investis, commented:
“We are very pleased to be working with ECI Partners. They have a strong track record supporting fast-growing, innovative companies in tech-enabled businesses services.

“Investis is poised for further expansion. We are making significant inroads in the US and have expanded our European business through our recent acquisitions of global3digital and Alert IR. We are the international leader in this fast-growing sector.”

David Grigson, Chairman of Investis, commented:
“Investis has made great strides since Helen took over as CEO two years ago, and is now a bigger, better and more international business. We are delighted that ECI has chosen to invest in the company’s continuing growth.”

Investis was advised on this transaction by Clarity, the corporate finance advisory firm specialising in media and technology, and by Osborne Clarke, the international law firm. Debt finance was provided by Clydesdale Bank.

About Investis
Investis is an international digital corporate communications and investor relations company, which works with approximately 2,000 clients from offices in five countries. The companies it serves include more than 70% of the constituents of the FTSE 100 and more than 150 US clients. Founded in 2000, Investis helps clients manage their corporate communications and investor relations through corporate websites, IR webhosting, social media, apps & mobile, video and webcasting, website tools and online reporting.
Investis Website: www.investis.com

About ECI
ECI is the UK’s leading growth-focused, mid-market private equity firm. Founded in 1976, it is one of the longest established and most successful private equity groups in the UK having raised a £500m tenth fund in September 2014. With offices in London and Manchester, ECI invests in management buyouts, buyins and development capital deals of growth companies valued between £10 million and £150 million.

Taking either a majority or a minority equity position, ECI partners with ambitious management teams in the TMT, Business Services, Industrials, Healthcare and Consumer sectors, and has sold over 90 investments with a total value of over £2.8 billion since 1990.

Recent ECI transactions in the TMT and Business Services sectors include investments in online car rental platform CarTrawler (sold to BC and Insight Venture Partners), ATG Media a global pioneer of webcast and timed on-line auctions, Encore Tickets a provider of theatre tickets and group bookings for

London theatres and Citation a leading provider of health and safety, Employment Law and HR services in the UK.
ECI has a long track record of building successful businesses and continues to do so today as illustrated by the performance of its latest fund, ECI 9, which has experienced annual growth rates (CAGR) to 30 June 2014 of:
· EBITDA of 21%
· Turnover of 18%
· Employment of 19%

For more information, please visit http://www.ecipartners.com