Foresight backs ICA buyout

UK small-cap investor Foresight Group has invested £2m in the management buyout of document management solutions provider ICA Group.

RBS matched Foresight’s investment with £2m and the remaining balance came from the management team.

Servicing the South East of England, ICA resells and maintains Ricoh and Toshiba office printing equipment in the commercial, public, education and healthcare sectors. The company employs 17 members of staff and divides its turnover between machine sales and servicing and maintenance.

Managing director of ICA, Simon Whapshott said: “The market in which we operate is growing strongly and is forecast to increase at 5% p.a. as customers look to adopt equipment with more advanced technology. ICA is well placed to exploit this growth as we look to expand the business over the next few years.”

Simon Whapshott is responsible for the management buyout and has been appointed managing director. Sales director Bob Price has also been named managing director, and Rita Fraser has been appointed finance director. Veteran private equity investor, Andy Nash, will join the company as executive chairman.

This is the second backing of a management buyout Foresight has been involved with in 2009. In February, the firm led a £7.5m management buyout of Diagnos.co.uk, an Oxfordshire-based software engineering company focused on the automotive sector.