Epiris today announces that Epiris Fund II, advised by Epiris LLP, has supported Appello, a leading technology-enabled care provider, in the acquisition of Lifeline24.
Both Appello and Lifeline24 offer personal alarms together with a monitoring service that allow the elderly and vulnerable to live independently in their own home, knowing that help can be summoned if needed. Appello leads the market in digital products and services which it supplies to housing, health and care providers across the UK. Lifeline24 provides its products and services direct to consumers. The combined business will serve over 300,000 individuals across the UK.
Appello is run by Chief Executive Tim Barclay. Lance Batchelor, formerly CEO of Saga plc and currently Chairman of several private equity-backed businesses, as well as the Lead Non-Executive Director on the Royal Navy Board, will join the group as Chairman.
Nicola Gray, Investment Partner at Epiris, said:
“Appello and Lifeline24 operate in an attractive market where demographic and technology changes are combining to create strong long-term growth trends. Putting Appello’s market-leading digital technology together with Lifeline24’s strength in digital marketing creates a business that is uniquely placed to benefit from these trends.”
Alex Fortescue, Managing Partner at Epiris, said:
“Both Appello and Lifeline24 are successful digital disruptors. Combining them creates a multichannel, technology-rich market leader and the opportunity to build a world-class business using their respective strengths. This is another great example of how we source complex but unique deal opportunities and transform through M&A.”
Tim Barclay, Chief Executive of Appello, said:
“This is a really exciting step forward for our business. We use technology to help people lead independent and fulfilled lives, safe in the knowledge that at any time they can contact Appello for the support they need. Bringing Lifeline24 into the fold gives us an amazing opportunity to take the benefits of our technology-enabled services to a new set of customers and gives us an even larger market in which to innovate.”
The Epiris team on the deal is Alex Fortescue, Chris Hanna, Nicola Gray, Zoe Lai and Grace Knight. Epiris is advised by Macfarlanes, Acuity, Dentons, BDO, PwC, Anthesis and Project50.
For Epiris LLP please contact:
Greenbrook Communications
Robert White, Matthew Goodman, Daniel Oliver
+44 (0)20 7952 2000
For Appello contact:
Tim Barclay, CEO
tim.barclay@appello.co.uk
About Epiris
Epiris is a top-decile* private equity firm which invests in opportunities to transform businesses in partnership with exceptional management teams. It targets control positions in UK-headquartered businesses with an enterprise value of between £75 million and £500 million, deploying between £40 million and £150 million of equity.
Fund I
Between 2011 and 2016 Epiris invested £1 billion in buyouts and loan-to-own debt investments in respect of which it has delivered a gross IRR of 38%*. Synthetic net returns from this portfolio are in the top-decile of European private equity funds of comparable vintages.
Fund II
Epiris Fund II is an institutional private equity fund raised in 2017. Investments made by Fund II include Portals, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of “substrate” for banknotes; TI Media, one of the largest consumer magazine publishers in the UK, which the Fund sold to Future plc for £140 million in April 2020, generating a return of 2.1x MOIC, a 44% IRR; The Club Company, the UK’s largest country club operator; Bonhams, the global auction house; Diamorph, a supplier of advanced material solutions for demanding and safety-critical applications; IFG, a financial services business comprising Nucleus, an investment platform, as well as Saunderson House, an independent wealth manager and financial adviser which the Fund sold to Rathbone Brothers Plc for £150 million in October 2021; The Big Table, a leading UK restaurant operator; Sharps, the UK’s leading supplier of bespoke fitted bedroom furniture; Stuart Turner, a producer of pumps and water-boosting products for residential and commercial uses; and Inchcape Shipping Services, one of the world’s largest maritime services providers, which the Fund agreed to acquire in April 2022.
For further information, please visit www.epiris.co.uk.
Issued by Epiris which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
*As at 31 March 2022. Gross IRR does not reflect adjustments for investment management and administration costs. Comparator data supplied by Preqin. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.