MBO at 4Projects

There has been a momentous announcement from UK construction collaboration technology vendor 4Projects today: 4Projects Holdings Ltd has been bought by its management team, led by MD Richard Vertigan and finance director Steve Nelson, with the support of a private equity firm, August Equity LLP.

4Projects was previously a subsidiary of the Leighton media group, whose chairman Paul Callaghan was also chairman of 4Projects. In a departing statement, Callaghan says: “No competitor operating in our sector would have been able to attract this level of investment” – a somewhat tendentious and ultimately meaningless claim as there is no mention in 4Projects’ news release of the value of the transaction (August Equity’s website simply says “MBO (undisclosed sum)“. The new chairman is Stephen Edwards, described as “an experienced practitioner in the SME software space”, “introduced” by August Equity.

4Projects now has over 50 employees, and says it has “enjoyed healthy and profitable growth since inception, with a revenue model that has risen, month on month, for over 6 years”. As well as Edwards, Vertigan and Nelson, the management team includes: marketing director Duncan Mactear, commercial director Bernie Callaghan, operations director Neil Jarvis and UK sales director Jason Warde.

According to its website, August Equity – until March 2006 known as Kleinwort Capital – was previously an investor in Ramesys, later renamed RedSky IT (sold in January 2007 to Explorer – see post).

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