Octopus

Octopus Ventures invests £6.25 million in Clifford Thames

24 February 2010

Octopus Ventures has invested £6.25 million into the Clifford Thames Group Ltd. The funds were provided from a number of venture capital trusts managed by Octopus. The investment both enables management to buy back 3i’s equity in the business and finance new product development. Clifford Thames is a market leading provider of software, consultancy and business outsourcing services for the automotive industry, and is a key partner of most of the world’s leading car manufacturers. With offices in eight countries, having recently opened up in India, and Poland, Clifford Thames has a well established and impressive client list including Ford, GM Europe, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Fiat, Hyundai/Kia, Volkswagen Group and Renault.

The Group has enjoyed substantial EBITDA growth over the last few years, despite a difficult operating environment, while also launching new software applications for
car dealers in several key markets. The Group is also developing its new ATHORIS platform supporting the high-growth Fleet Vehicle service sector.

David Riemenschneider, CEO of Clifford Thames, said: “Given our company’s strong recurring revenue stream and long standing profitability, we received both a typical bank offer and the Octopus mezzanine offer. We chose Octopus because we felt that they would bring added value to the Board and the nonamortising nature of the loan meant that more cash would be available for growing the business.

Octopus’s flexible approach shone through when, a few days before the proposed completion, our customers’ interest in a new product we’re developing increased such that we needed to raise a further £1.75m to accelerate its introduction. Octopus swiftly understood the opportunity, confirmed that they’d be able to provide the additional funds and restructured the deal to ensure a fair risk/ return for us both. They did this in less than two weeks. We don’t think a bank would have had the appetite or the speed to have been able to do this. Now the deal is done we’re keen to get on with the job of serving our customers and creating value for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Stuart Nicol, Director of Octopus Ventures, said, “Clifford Thames uses the OEMs’ data to efficiently provide their dealers with the information that enables them to maximise sales in their service and repair business, an area of critical growth for most dealers and OEMs during the last 18 months despite the poor economic climate.. By doing so with a passion for service and attention to detail they have never lost a customer. We were introduced to them through 3i and KPMG who recognised that our flexible debt product might suit the Company’s needs. We look forward to working with the Clifford Thames team to ensure that it does. We’re also keen to find other strong UK businesses whose success we can reinforce with our investment.”

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Octopus Ventures invests £6.25 million in Clifford Thames