Moneypenny, the UK’s leading outsourced communications provider delivering telephone answering, live chat, switchboard and multichannel customer services, is partnering with private equity investor ECI Partners to help drive the next stage of the company’s growth.
ECI’s significant investment will support Moneypenny’s ambitious plans to substantially grow its turnover by expanding across its core markets in the UK and USA. The details of the transaction are undisclosed.
Moneypenny is the market leader and fastest growing company in its sector, with 700 staff and a turnover of GBP33 million. It delivers outsourced telephone answering, live chat, switchboard and a host of technology-enabled services to a wide range of businesses, from sole traders to multi-national corporations. Moneypenny handles 15m calls and chats annually for more than 13,000 clients in the UK and US.
Demand for Moneypenny’s services is growing at a significant rate as business owners continue to look at ways to improve how they interact with customers, and to maximise operational efficiencies. Moneypenny meets this demand by combining cutting edge voice-based technology with a team of highly trained and knowledgeable receptionists.
ECI currently has circa GBP1.7 billion of funds under management. It has a strong track record of partnering with tech-enabled businesses that provide services to the SME market. Past and current investments in this area include: Citation, provider of professional advice and compliance packages; XLN, independent provider of fixed line, broadband, energy and bank card processing services; and Make It Cheaper, provider of business price comparison and switching services.
GCA Altium advised the shareholders on the deal, with a team comprising Simon Lord, Dominic Orsini, Tom Battersby and Steven Manja with support from European CEO, Phil Adams. The deal marks GCA Altium’s 18th in the tech-enabled services sector to date in 2018.
Lord says: “It has been an absolute pleasure to represent the Moneypenny business, and advise Ed Reeves and the management team. The adoption of new technologies, in particular the use of AI, combined with outstanding levels of service, means Moneypenny is fantastically well positioned for future growth. The company has found a strong partner in ECI and I am sure that Moneypenny’s future will be very exciting. We wish them every success.”
Moneypenny co-founder, Ed Reeves, says: “We’ve such an exciting time ahead of us; we’re the market leaders, we’re developing so much exciting technology for our clients to use and we’re growing incredibly quickly. That’s what makes Moneypenny stand out from the crowd. This deal with ECI enables us take all of those elements and scale them up even quicker, both for our UK and US businesses.”
EY performed financial and tax vendor due diligence on behalf of Moneypenny, led by Richard Harding and Steven Kingham. PWC provided vendor commercial and technical due diligence, led by Barry Jaber and Bobby Maclay.
