Zenith sale to Bridgepoint
- HgCapital sells Zenith to Bridgepoint for £750m
- No changes to key Zenith personnel
- Bridgepoint says UK fleet services market is growing and worth c£14bn (c5m vehicles)
- Bridgepoint to assist Zenith’s growth with targeted acquisition activity
- Salary sacrifice services expected to grow for a further five years
ZENITH has been sold to private equity group Bridgepoint for £750m. Current owners, the capital venture group HgCapital, announced the sale today (30 January).
The news had already surfaced in late summer last year that the leasing firm was up for sale at a reputed £700m (Zenith up for sale?)
Zenith, with its HQ in Leeds, was established in 1989 and provides the corporate and consumer markets with leasing and fleet management services. It also provides ‘white label’ back office fleet management systems and services to vehicle manufacturers and financial services businesses.
HgCapital was instrumental in the company’s growth through the acquisition of Zenith and Leasedrive in 2014. The two companies operated separately under the Zenith Leasedrive Group, but in February 2016 the two companies amalgamated under the Zenith brand.
Following the sale, Tim Buchan, chief executive officer of Zenith, said:
“This marks another milestone in the development of Zenith. We thank Hg for their contribution and welcome Bridgepoint as our new partner. They share our ambitions to consolidate and grow our position as the No 1 corporate fleet provider in the UK and to transform Zenith into a broader based business.”
Mark Phillips, chief financial officer, added: “Through the support of private equity and our banking partners, Zenith has been able to grow and Bridgepoint’s new investment will support the management team to continue to build Zenith, open up new markets and extend the value proposition both in the UK and Europe”.
Zenith was recently ranked seventh in the FN50’s list of the UK’s top 50 contract hire companies with a growing fleet size of over 58,000.
Emma Watford, partner at Bridgepoint and head of its business services sector team, commented:
“Zenith is already best-in-class with a proven business model that has had an unbroken track record of growth over a long period. It benefits from an exceptional management team and, with them, we believe that the business can continue its impressive growth trajectory through its continued focus on customer service, technology and targeted acquisition activity.”
