Inflexion generates 16x via £300m IPO of FDM

Inflexion Private Equity is pleased to announce the successful exit of FDM Group, the UK-based international IT services company, via a listing on the London Stock Exchange which priced today. Inflexion will sell all of its shares generating a return of 16.2x invested capital.

FDM Group (Holdings) plc will join the main market of London Stock Exchange, with a market capitalisation of £308.5m.

Inflexion invested in FDM in 2010. The company operates a unique business model whereby graduates are trained in business and technical pathways at one of FDM’s Academies worldwide and then deployed to its clients whilst remaining salaried employees of FDM. The company’s list of over 130 multinational blue-chip clients includes UBS, Virgin and British Airways.

Under Inflexion’s ownership the company has seen significant international expansion, opening operations in the US, Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. With this expansion has come a four-fold increase in employee numbers and strong profit growth. FDM’s management team has continued to innovate to attract high calibre graduates, running successful programmes to increase the proportion of women in IT as well as retraining ex-military personnel to reintegrate them into civilian life.

Simon Turner, Managing Partner at Inflexion said “We are exceptionally proud of the success of FDM. This result is testament to the ambition and hard work of the management team and an excellent working relationship with Inflexion. Together we have overseen rapid international expansion, huge growth in employee numbers and a five-fold increase in profits. FDM has become the UK’s leading IT-graduate employer and rivals the Big 4 in the number of graduates it attracts every year. Our aim was to place 75% of our holding but due to exceptional investor demand we have realised our entire stake.”

Rod Flavell, FDM’s CEO said “We are delighted to be joining the main market on the London Stock Exchange. Over the last 23 years FDM has grown through multiple technology cycles to establish itself as a leading global professional consulting firm focused on the IT sector.  Our highly differentiated business model has been at the core of this success. With Inflexion’s support, we have expanded both our geographic reach and breadth of service offering significantly over recent years and this strengthened operational platform leaves FDM extremely well-placed to capitalise on the strong growth prospects in the global IT market.”

The sale process was led by Richard Swann and Gareth Healy.

Investec Bank plc was sole adviser and sole bookrunner on the transaction. The Investec advisory team was Rowena Murray, Andrew Pinder and Garry Levin.