Routes
Routes provides enhanced, end of life and complex domiciliary care to local CCG’s and private clients via 14 service centres across the North of England. The business has extensive experience in caring for and supporting clients with a variety of healthcare needs, including palliative care, degenerative conditions, spinal injuries, brain injuries and also mental health and learning disabilities.
Key has been a supportive partner over the last four years and made a significant contribution. Their understanding of our sector and the broader challenges of growing a business meant their input was always both valuable and constructive.
Working with Routes...
Investment process
Following a period of rapid growth, the Founder was looking to crystallise some of the value he and his wife had built to date prior to commencing a more aggressive organic and acquisitive growth strategy for the business. We supported the equity release/development capital transaction in July 2016 with a £4 million investment.
Growth process
The business was owned by the Founder who wanted to transition out of the business at the next realisation date. The succession planning involved working with the founder to select the right management structure to ensure that they could achieve this goal. As a result, we supplemented the senior management team, including the recruitment of a Non-Executive Chair, CEO, Operations and Business Development Director. An injection of development capital enabled Routes to invest in a complete overhaul of back-office systems, removing one of the company’s biggest obstacles to geographic expansion. Our experience in procurement and implementation of major operational solutions ensured maximum value with minimum risk and zero disruption.
Exit process
We recommended a firm of specialist corporate finance advisers to manage the sale of the business. Numerous offers were received from both trade and private equity, with the eventual buyer being a private equity investor. The growth in turnover and profitability delivered a 4x return on investment at exit. We re-invested alongside the incoming investor as we felt Routes had not yet delivered its full growth potential on the investment made in the business.