ANC Group

Montagu led and structured the £50 million (€80 million) Management Buyout of ANC, the express parcels delivery firm, from Securum Industrial Holdings, underwriting £19.8 million (€32 million) of institutional equity and subordinated loan stock.

The sale of ANC was part of an orderly disposal of assets by Securum, a corporate rescue vehicle. It was not possible to float ANC as the management team had only been in situ for just over 12 months. With advice from Barclays de Zoete Wedd, Securum opted to sell to a financial rather than a trade bidder. Montagu won the auction against stiff competition from a number of rival private equity firms. As the sale progressed, Securum invited the management team to participate in the deal and the transaction gradually assumed the characteristics of a typical Management Buyout.

Established in 1981, ANC operated a nationwide express parcels delivery service. In 1994 it had handled 13.5 million parcels for a range of blue chip clients making it the fifth largest operator in the UK parcels market. Total network sales exceeded £80 million (€128 million). The business expanded profitably year on year between 1991 and 1994, despite the severity of the recession, achieving sales growth ahead of most of its main competitors.

In structuring the buyout, management was anxious to ensure that finance would be in place to fund a major redevelopment of the central hub. The structure of the deal provided a clear sign of Montagu's commitment to ANC's long term development and success.

ANC represented an attractive investment for us, with a good record of generating profits and cash and a strong management team. Moreover, the completion of the hub extension offered the prospect of enhancing ANC's ability to provide a high quality of service to its clients and increase parcel volumes and profits.