Investment type
- Development capital
Fever-Tree came to us in 2013 looking for a partner to support its ambitious plans. Our investment allowed the management team to invest in operational improvements, international expansion and drive strong financial growth at a critical point in the brand’s development. Fever-Tree successfully launched on London’s AIM market in 2014, following an 18 month partnership where the company’s enterprise value doubled.
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Fever-Tree is a brand now immediately familiar to millions of bar-and-restaurant goers as well as supermarket shoppers, in many countries around the world. Best-known for its premium tonic water range, the business also makes several other high-quality drinks including ginger ale, cola and lemonade.
Raising the bar
In 2013 we backed Fever-Tree’s management team, led by Tim Warrillow and Charles Rolls.
This was the start of an 18-month partnership that saw the business cement its position as the leader in the premium mixers market and tap into the multibillion-pound global spirit and mixer industry.
The business chose to work with LDC thanks to our strong track record in supplying development capital, as well as our expertise and support of management teams with a strong vision.
From the beginning LDC made it clear to us that they wanted to back a management team and allow that team to run the business. They were true to their word.”
New geographies and products
Fever-Tree considerably expanded its operations overseas during our partnership, to the point where 70 per cent of its revenue was derived from exports.
The business went on to extend its products to include a wider range of other mixer drinks such as Elderflower Tonic Water and Sicilian Lemonade, lines which are now stocked in some of the UK’s leading supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose.
The business performed ahead of plan with strong trading in all key markets as well as new product launches and international expansion.
Financial support with expertise
Our Value Creation Partners (VCP) supported the business’ development. They brought valuable insight to the investment and helped to drive operational improvements, while always being guided by the ambitions of the management team.
This included helping to implement a new CRM system to further improve UK sales, as well as revising distributor partnerships in key international territories such as Australia, Belgium and Canada.
Making a splash
In November 2014, with strong interest from institutional investors, Fever-Tree underwent a hugely successful £154.4m listing on AIM. This resulted in 60.4 per cent of the business being publicly traded and raised gross proceeds of approximately £93.3m.
During our partnership the enterprise value of the business doubled.