Elysian Capital III LP Acquisition with management of Activate Group Limited and Activate Accident Repair Group Limited

Elysian Capital III LP is pleased to announce, in conjunction with management, its acquisition and investment in Activate Group Limited and Activate Accident Repair Group Limited, “Activate”. This represents the seventh investment in the Elysian Capital III LP Fund which closed in September 2020 at £325million.

Established in 2015, Activate provides accident management services to insurance groups and corporate fleet operators through its MRN and Sopp+Sopp brands, undertaking the vehicle repairs either in house through its own network of nine repair centres or externally through its network of third-party repair centres.

Led by Hannah Wilcox, who became CEO in 2018 having joined as CFO, the business has built a strong reputation with its customers for high service and, importantly for their clients, short “key to key” times i.e. the return of a repaired vehicle to its user. Since 2019, Activate has supplemented its third party repair centres with its own facilities in areas with an undersupply of capacity.

Hannah Wilcox, CEO said: “I’m incredibly proud of Activate Group’s success. Over the past eight years we’ve taken the business from a start-up with a handful of team members to a UK-wide operation with a 700 strong team. Elysian Capital has an outstanding track record of supporting fast-growing businesses like ours, and I’m confident their investment and support will allow us to take Activate Group to the next level and move faster in delivering our key strategic priorities.”

Mark Puttick, Partner at Elysian Capital said: “Since 2015, Activate has created a strong proposition in the claims and repair market and we are excited to be working with Hannah and the rest of the team to realise the business’ full potential through additional sites, enhanced technology and new services.”

Elysian Capital was advised by: Squire Patton Boggs (legal); Eight Advisory (financial due diligence and tax); Oliver Wyman (commercial due diligence); Aon (Insurance); Ringstone (IT); CBRE (property) and Strategic Awareness (management due diligence). Working Capital Facilities were provided by Barclays.