Livingbridge and ECI Partners (‘ECI’) have announced the sale of Reed &
Mackay to Inflexion generating a multiple of 3.4x cost to investors.
Reed & Mackay is a premium corporate travel management company delivering a personalised service through cutting edge technology. Its strategic travel management services focus on law firms, insurance companies, finance houses and the Energy Sector. More recently it has opened offices in Scotland, the US and the UAE. Reed & Mackay also provides an industry leading Event Management service. In the year to March 2016 Reed & Mackay handled nearly 600,000 client travel transactions.
Livingbridge first invested in Reed & Mackay in 2005 before undertaking a reinvestment with ECI in April 2011. Over this period the business has been transformed through investment in people and technology and has delivered consistent, profitable growth. Since the reinvestment in 2011 highlights include:
- The client base has grown over 68% (a CAGR of 14%) to nearly 500;
- A 97% client retention rate demonstrating the high quality service and value that the whole team at Reed & Mackay delivers daily to its clients;
- Total transaction value passed £200m for the first time in 2014 and is set to reach almost £250m in 2016;
- EBITDA has more than doubled, growing at a CAGR of 15% over the last 5 years;
- Employment has grown from c.250 in 2011 to what will exceed 400 by the end of 2016;
- Development of proprietary technology tools including a market leading online booking tool, traveller app and travel risk management platform;
- Wholly owned offices opened in Scotland, the US and the UAE, further enhancing the platform for international growth.
The business is now ideally placed to take its market leading service proposition to an increasingly international audience with support and funding from Inflexion.
Fred Stratford, CEO at Reed & Mackay commented: “It has been an enjoyable and rewarding few years working with ECI and Livingbridge to help strengthen Reed & Mackay’s International footprint and to develop the value proposition in line with client demand. We have achieved a huge amount together and now I look forward to working with Gareth Healy, Mark Williams and the team at Inflexion on our next phase of growth.”
Chris Watt, at ECI, commented: “We wish the team every success for the future. It has been a pleasure working with Fred, his team at Reed & Mackay and Shani at Livingbridge, over the past five years and to see the company develop into a world class business that is genuinely differentiated in its field.”
Shani Zindel, at Livingbridge, commented: “It has been fantastic to have been part of the Reed & Mackay growth story over the last 11 years, a period that has seen them flourish as a market leader in strategic travel management for blue chip organisations. We have been proud to partner with Reed & Mackay over this period, and it’s been a pleasure to work with ECI since 2011. We wish the Reed & Mackay team the greatest success for the future.”