News
LDC exits investment in Littlefish
24 Aug 2022
Leading mid-market private equity firm LDC has exited its minority investment in managed IT and cyber services provider Littlefish, to Bowmark Capital following a three-year partnership.
Founded in 2003, Littlefish provides a comprehensive range of managed IT, cyber security, cloud and IT consultancy services to over 200 customers across both the private and public sectors. It has built a leading position in the market through a combination of high-quality service delivery, operational automation, and an organisational structure that enables the business to outcompete the larger, traditional outsourcers.
Littlefish’s services are highly tailored to the needs of each customer, allowing the business to achieve a category-leading net promoter score of nearly 80. This is delivered from UK only service centres, with many staff active participants in the company’s academy, which facilitates and rewards individual improvements in technical capability, service quality, and customer satisfaction.
LDC backed the management team at Littlefish in April 2019 with a minority investment to support the fast growth business. Over the last three years, the business has almost doubled revenues from £18.6m to £36.4m in its latest financial year.
During this period, the business continued to win significant new client contracts and developed its cyber security arm, which is now its fastest-growing service line. Littlefish also opened a new office in Sheffield and more than doubled its headcount to employ over 450 people across its Nottingham, Sheffield and London offices. The business’ focus on investing in its people and culture earned the company 1 Star accreditation in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list in 2020.
The transaction was led by LDC’s David Bains, Partner and Head of LDC’s East Midlands and East of England team.
Steve Robinson, CEO of Littlefish, said: “The business has been on a significant growth journey over the last 12 years, which has been achieved almost entirely organically.”
With LDC’s support, we have expanded our offering to cement Littlefish as a market-leader for quality and innovation in the delivery of end user services, and we’ve continued to invest in our people. Their flexibility, sector expertise and financial support have helped us to build our business with confidence.”
David Bains, Partner and Head of the East Midlands and East of England at LDC, added: “Littlefish is a stellar example of our growing tech industry here in the heart of the East Midlands. Its expansion is testament to the strength of the proposition that Steve and his team have developed. We’re proud to have been part of their journey during this exciting time, and we wish them every success on the next stage of their journey.”
This transaction marks LDC’s fifth successful exit from a technology business in the last twelve months, and follows its recent exit from leading design software specialist Solid Solutions. The leading private equity firm has invested over £250m in more than 10 technology-led businesses in the past year, including digital transformation provider CTI Group, IT services specialist Aspire and leading mobile and internet of things (IoT) communications firm Cellhire.
LDC and the company was advised by Clearwater International (corporate finance), PwC (financial due diligence), Armstrong (commercial due diligence) and Browne Jacobson (legal).