ECI completes 7 exits valued at £2.5bn in 2021
ECI Partners, the leading growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, had a strong 2021, completing 7 exits with a combined value of £2.5bn.
Together, these exits averaged a return of 3.5x, and include the sale of CPOMS, Content+Cloud and the IPO of tech unicorn Auction Technology Group (ATG). ATG was the best performing IPO in London during 2021(above £50m market cap) and is now a FTSE 250 constituent.
ECI continued its strong record of supporting companies to unlock growth opportunities through M&A, with the portfolio completing 14 acquisitions in total last year.
ECI also opened its New York office to support the international growth of its investment portfolio. As part of this, ECI appointed Brett Pentz as vice president to lead the US region and support portfolio companies with sourcing and executing North American M&A opportunities, as well as helping to execute organic entry and growth strategies. Two of ECI’s seven exits were to US trade buyers in 2021.
Other key milestones in 2021 included:
- The close of ECI 9 which comprised of 15 investments and generated a 3x return and 36% IRR.
- Reinvestment in high-growth virtual insurer, Avantia, a new investment for ECI 11.
David Ewing, managing partner at ECI Partners, says: “2021 has been another strong year for ECI. The success of our exits this year highlights our ability to invest in businesses with huge growth potential and to help them unlock further growth opportunities.
It is a testament to the quality of the brilliant founders and management teams we work with that the portfolio grew its revenues and profits by over 30% and 65% in the last twelve months. I would also like to thank the ECI team for all their hard work in supporting our portfolio management teams to deliver such great results.
We are excited for what’s to come this year and hope to build on the success of our portfolio over the last twelve months.”
