Partnership Capital and Radius agree minority investment

Inflexion announces that funds managed by Inflexion have agreed a £150m Partnership Capital investment in Radius Payments Solutions (Radius), a leading fleet payments and telematics provider to small and medium sized fleets across Europe, North America and Asia. This transaction values the company at £800m.

Radius was founded in 1990 by CEO Bill Holmes who still leads the business today and remains the largest shareholder. Headquartered in Crewe, Radius has grown rapidly since its inception, through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth, with over 30 acquisitions completed to date. Radius is proud to be the second largest employer in Crewe; it now has over 1,000 employees with operations that span 14 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Radius primarily serves the SME market and has over 200,000 customers.

Radius acts as the key intermediary and service provider between major energy companies, energy retail networks and their SME customers. Capitalising on its scale, integrated technology and telematics service platforms, Radius provides SMEs with significant purchasing power and customer service excellence, which is usually reserved for larger businesses. Radius has expanded beyond its core fleet card products to become a major provider of MasterCard payment solutions. It has successfully entered the fast growth telematics market and now offers insurance products to its growing customer base. In addition, the business is further developing its product offering as vehicle technologies evolve. At the forefront of its industry’s digital innovation, Radius operates a proprietary customer-focused portal and reporting platform known as “Velocity”.

The business has successfully incentivised performance through its employee ownership model. Bill Holmes sought to retain this and his leadership of the strong business built over 30 years. Inflexion’s unique Partnership Capital model presented him with the right investment solution. We will support Radius’s continued organic growth whilst helping to accelerate sales across the globe.

Bill Holmes, CEO & Founder, Radius commented, “We’ve achieved rapid growth of customer numbers and revenue over the last few years through the development of innovative new products and services, acquisitions and through expansion into new countries and markets. We’ve been exploring ways in which we can achieve the next stage of our growth and believe Inflexion Partnership Capital has the right culture, expertise and support to grow the business further with its exciting overseas network.”

David Whileman, Head of Partnership Capital, Inflexion, commented, “We knew Bill and his team considered many investment options and we are thrilled that they chose Inflexion Partnership Capital as their future partner. Radius is a high growth business with substantial international operations; this investment clearly demonstrates the entrepreneurial demand for a true minority investor. We look forward to supporting the company’s ambitious growth strategy.”

The Inflexion deal team comprised of David Whileman, Josh Kaufman, Edward Lynch and Nick Rosenberg.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete in early 2018.