Lonsdale Capital Partners, the private equity firm founded by Alan Dargan, Ross Finegan and David Gasparro, has announced its first investment – the acquisition of a majority stake in EMCAS Ltd, one of the leading UK financial claims management companies.
Lonsdale will support the EMCAS management team led by Craig Bernhardt (CEO) and James Scarth (CFO). Investors in the deal include Souter Investments. In addition, Lonsdale announced the appointment of a new EMCAS Non-Executive Chairman, David White, who was until recently CEO of The Children’s Mutual. The appointment takes place with immediate effect.
Ross Finegan, Partner, Lonsdale, says: "EMCAS is a market leader in financial claims management. We were attracted to partnering with them for three reasons: this is a strongly growing sector, they are focused on redress on behalf of the consumer and the capability of the management team, who show a great determination to drive their business forward. We look forward to working closely with them as they build their team and further develop their strategy."
Craig Bernhardt, CEO, EMCAS, adds: "The financial claims management sector is growing. Conservative estimates are that 15 million Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policies alone have been miss-sold, and the fact that we now deal with over 6,000 new enquiries every month shows a growing unease in the way both these and a number of other investment products have been sold.
We look forward to a long partnership with Lonsdale which enables us to develop both our existing business as well as debt management solutions and other new services."
