News
LDC exits Cardel to Lifco
3 Jun 2024
LDC, the private equity investor which is part of Lloyds Banking Group, has exited its investment in Cardel to Lifco following a successful long-term partnership.
Hertfordshire-headquartered Cardel is a leading manufacturer and supplier of specialist components used in the production of secure ID documents, payment cards, printed circuit boards (PCB), fuel cells, wooden furniture and other laminated products. Its materials are used to make a wide range of industrially laminated products, including an estimated third of bank cards produced globally and around 60 per cent of all identity cards and passports.
LDC first backed Cardel’s management team, led by CEO Marshall Haldane, in May 2017 to support the business’ international and domestic growth plans.
During the partnership, Cardel significantly invested in new product development, coming up with new innovations in the card payment and secured identification documentation markets. In 2022, the business also acquired Germany-based VTT, a market-leading supplier of identity card, driving licence, passport data page and PCB bare board lamination components to the global security market. The acquisition further increased Cardel’s international footprint and gave the business a manufacturing base in the EU which enabled it to extend its product range into wider sectors.
Today, the company has a truly global client base and serves more than 275 customers in over 55 countries. To support this, it has on the ground technical support and representation in 14 countries, including the US, China and India.
Cardel has also more than doubled revenue and EBITDA during its partnership with LDC, and headcount has increased from 22 employees to 74 employees during the same period.
Listed Swedish investment group Lifco will now support Cardel on the next stage of its growth journey, as it looks to target further global expansion, product development and application development, such as within the PCB market, which uses a lot of the same technology Cardel already uses to support its secure payments customers.
The transaction was led by Investment Director Matt Newbold and Investment Manager Demetri Theofanou in LDC’s West Midlands team.
The team at LDC has played a big part in our success in recent years, not only helping with our M&A strategy and the acquisition of VTT, but providing invaluable support and guidance along the way. We feel we’re now well set up for our next phase of growth, and we look forward to working closely with Lifco to deliver it.”
Matt Newbold, Investment Director at LDC, added: “Cardel is a business that continues to be at the forefront of innovation, both within the card payment and secure documentation markets. It is a true market leader in this space and the ever-critical area of identity security, supplying technology that keeps people’s identity and assets safer. We know Marshall and his team will continue to lead this niche global market, and we wish them every success for the future.”
LDC was advised by Freeths (legal), KPMG (corporate finance) and BDO (financial due diligence) in Birmingham.
