Directorbank places CEO at Sullivan Street Partners-backed Tivoli Group.

Tivoli is one of the UK’s leading landscaping and grounds maintenance providers servicing over 400 contracts across more than 600 customers including the Ministry of Defence, local authorities and blue-chip corporates. Read the full case study here.

“Given James’s search expertise and sound business understanding, he and his team were able to deliver quickly and efficiently against the brief. We are delighted with Chris’s appointment and we look forward to working with him to make Tivoli a market leading independent grounds maintenance business.”

Richard Sanders
Sullivan Street Partners

Directorbank supports NorthEdge Capital with appointment of Chairman and CFO at iPortalis.

This week NorthEdge Capital announced the first investment from its recently closed SME Fund I, backing award-winning cloud services specialist iPortalis with a multi-million pound growth capital investment to support its global expansion plans.

Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, iPortalis provides cloud subscription management services to global enterprises, including unified billing and automated licence management software. The business is now positioned for ambitious growth including expanding its international client base, further developing its market leading technology, and tripling its workforce across the globe.
 
NorthEdge approached Directorbank’s James Searby at the pre-deal stage to source an experienced Chairman and CFO to support iPortalis’s existing management team in driving forward the business. Strong candidates were quickly identified for client interview with John Hawkins successfully appointed as Chairman and Neil Guilder as CFO.
 
John Hawkins is a seasoned Chairman with many years experience in PE-backed technology businesses. His extensive track record includes chairmanships at Kallidus, GFS, Exclaimer, BAB, Autologic, Isotrak, MLL Telecom and Wireless Logic – all PE-backed and the latter of which was sold for over 6x return on investment.

Neil is a serial PE CFO with a wealth of financial knowledge, bringing more than 20 years experience of supporting SME growth across Yorkshire for several mid-market PE houses.
 
These placements further demonstrate our strong expertise in the Tech sector and our capabilities in delivering positive outcomes for our regional private equity clients. 

For further information, please contact:
 
James Searby, Director
0113 297 8000
j.searby@directorbank.com

iPortalis news release_web

Directorbank places CFO at The NAV People, the UK’s leading Microsoft Dynamics NAV reseller backed by FPE Capital.

Read the full case study here

“I have had a longstanding relationship with George Heppenstall of Directorbank and on appointment he rapidly provided an excellent list of candidates that met our brief for the CFO role at The NAV People. His proactive approach whilst we were proceeding through pre-deal due diligence meant that we reached completion with a candidate ready to go.  We are delighted to have Chris on board.”

Llewellyn John
FPE Capital

Directorbank congratulates Next Wave Partners on the successful exit of its majority shareholding in The Delivery Group via a management buy-out generating a 4x money multiple for its Fund. We are proud to have played a part in this success by placing the Chairman of The Delivery Group – Paul Carvell – in 2011, shortly after Next Wave’s initial investment.

An industry leader, Paul is hugely experienced with a long track record of success in the mail delivery market. Previous roles include Chairman and CEO of Business Direct Group plc and CEO of Business Post Group plc (now UK Mail).

During Next Wave’s investment, and Paul’s tenure to date, The Delivery Group completely transformed through an ambitious and successful growth strategy which included investment in several software and technology development initiatives to accelerate internationalisation, operational automation, and a move towards higher margin and higher growth service lines such as global ecommerce delivery. Enterprise value grew over 16 times, revenues increased from £32 million to over £250 million, and EBITDA rose from £0.7 million to £12 million.

This placement demonstrates our ability to deliver highly successful outcomes for our private equity clients.

For more information on our executive search and pre-deal recruitment services, please contact George Heppenstall on 0161 509 3508 or at g.heppenstall@directorbank.com