Vista Retail Support secures a £14m investment from LDC

Advised by Blake Morgan, mid-market private equity firm LDC has secured a £14m investment in Vista Retail Support (Vista), a leading independent IT services company.

Headquartered in Cardiff, Vista employs its unmatched expertise and customer service to provide specialist support to some of the biggest names in retail, hospitality and leisure in the UK and Europe, enabling innovation in cutting-edge payment technologies, robotics, virtual reality applications and artificial intelligence. The business is valued at almost £30m.

The business installs, manages and maintains in-store technology for many of the UK’s leading brands, including Lloyds Pharmacy, Monsoon, Odeon Cinemas and Pets at Home, helping to maintain critical infrastructure and high levels of customer service.

Vista, which was founded in 1995, generated sales of almost £18m in its last financial year (2016). From its Welsh base, it now operates across the UK, employing more than 200 people, including 120 field service engineers.

With its total market opportunity growing due to the increase in technology in retail estates, the investment will support Vista’s ongoing growth strategy, both at home and abroad. This may include funding potential acquisitions and helping the business expand into new sectors.

The deal, which enables the firm’s existing backers WestBridge Capital and Octopus Investments to exit their investment, will see LDC take a significant stake in the business, while the management team will increase its shareholding.

Investment Directors Dewi Hughes and Pete Latham join the board, alongside the existing management team. Mark Molyneux will join the board as Chairman and Kath Roach will join the board as Non-Executive Director.

Dewi Hughes, Head of LDC Cardiff, said: “Vista is an impressive business with a highly capable management team, a proven, scalable model and a strong market presence across the UK. We’ll be working closely with the team to pursue organic and acquisition-led growth opportunities to help deliver the business’ long-term ambition”.

“Vista has demonstrated the drive we look for when partnering with a business and it is a great example of the quality of firms headquartered in Wales that have a UK and international reach. To be able to back and support businesses like this is exactly we why wanted to establish an on-the-ground presence in Wales.”

The 2017 edition of the prestigious Legal 500 Directory, The Legal 500, lists 16 Cardiff-based Blake Morgan Partners as “leading individuals” – the highest accolade the directory can give. Those named include corporate lawyer Robert Cherry who acted for LDC.

Blake Morgan has an international portfolio of multi-national client companies (public and private), SMEs, owner managed businesses and start-ups with a need for high-quality corporate and M&A support and advice

The corporate team is acknowledged within the legal industry and in the independent legal directories, for providing a first-class level of service across a wide range of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, sales, private equity and joint ventures.