Private equity firm LDC has announced its second major exit in as many days after selling its stake in a company that has seen its basic earnings almost double in three years.
The firm has sold its stake in lightning protection and electrical earthing systems Omega Red to utility services company South Staffordshire Plc.
Nottingham-based Omega Red, which employs more than 220 people across five sites within the UK, has seen turnover increase from £13.5million to £16 million in less than three years, while EBITDA has grown from £2.6million to more than £4million.
South Staffordshire Plc is a utility services group, which is wholly owned by Alinda Capital Partners, a European and American investor in infrastructure assets. South Staffordshire’s services business operates out of 15 locations across the UK, has more than 1,100 employees, and offers specialist services primarily to other UK water and sewage utilities, local authorities, government agencies and other major infrastructure owners.
The original investment and ultimate exit from Omega Red was led by John Garner, investment director and head of LDC East Midlands who said:
“Since our investment in Omega Red, we have worked closely with the management team to deliver strong organic sales and profit growth. Led by Colin McElhone, the Omega Red team’s extensive sector knowledge and operational expertise has really helped us to deliver on our initial investment strategy and achieve further growth within key markets. The sale of the business to South Staffordshire Plc represents an excellent outcome for Omega Red’s employees which will provide a base from which to develop the business even further.”
Adrian Page, group finance director, South Staffordshire Plc added: “Omega Red is a very well established business, with a market leading reputation and a strong management team. We are confident that the business will prove to be a real asset alongside South Staffordshire’s water and wastewater services division going forward.”
Earlier this week LDC received what it described as an “excellent” return after selling its stake in West Midlands-based Cable Management Group.
