Our objective is to build successful, profitable businesses working alongside ambitious management teams to deliver growth
Building great businesses together
Transforming opportunity into value
We actively seek to invest between £1m - £10m in buy outs and development capital opportunities, working closely with entrepreneurs and management teams to help build scalable and successful businesses
About us
Encore Capital is an investment firm which partners with and invests in entrepreneurial growth businesses.
We work collaboratively with management teams to create value by building market leaders and accelerating earnings growth through both acquisitive and organic strategies. We believe our experience and focus on entrepreneurially managed growth companies with up to £4m profit allows us to better understand key issues, risks and opportunities and provide relevant resources and insights.
Relationships are core to our business. We are collegiate and transparent in our approach, working closely together as a team with management and advisors. We have owned and exited our own businesses, and therefore fully appreciate the challenges and difficult decisions that entrepreneurs are faced with. We are here to make it easier.
We believe in every business we invest in. We are confident in the decisions we make and have a successful track record to prove it. Working with management, our joint successes have been recognised in the industry awards we have won.
Encore Capital Facts:
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We have over £100m of committed funding.
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We are a control oriented, operationally focused firm dedicated exclusively to making investments in businesses making profits between £500k and £4m.
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We target companies that require transition away from owner-managed structures and investment in infrastructure to support the scaling of their businesses
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We have a proactive operating approach to value creation by acquiring companies in niche growth sectors and leveraging our financial and operational resources and strategic input to help businesses grow.
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We have extensive operating experience within our team. This together with our proven post-investment approach enables us to acquire both performing and underperforming assets, with or without management teams
This structure, focus and approach has enabled Encore to deliver market leading returns in a traditionally underserved part of the market.
If you have any opportunity that you would like to discuss, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Working with us
We are easy to talk to and a straightforward source of advice and support, in addition to being a souce of capital.
Choosing the right investment partner is one of the hardest decisions any business owner or management team has to make. We believe we are a strong partner and ally. We are easy to talk to and a straightforward source of advice and support; we are not just a source of capital. We admire people who work hard to realise their ambition because that's what we endeavour to do ourselves.
So what makes us different?
Innovative fund structure
Encore is structured as a Permanent Capital Vehicle (PCV), an evergreen fund with no fixed termination date, geared towards growing capital at the best long term rate and less focused on shorter term performance. This longer term approach provides natural alignment with management teams who take comfort from the fact that all stakeholders have a shared ethos towards risk and reward, and that all decisions are made in the best interest of the company and not driven by the life of a fund.
Alignment across all stake holders
The partners at Encore have personally invested over 25% of the fund on the same terms as our investors - a fundamental principle aligning decision making between fund investors and investment professionals. We are primarily motivated by the return on our own capital, thereby aligning us to our investors – a step change from industry norm allowing us to focus on sustainable value creation over the long-term. Investment decisions are not influenced by fund cycle or career risk driven decision making.
Right chemistry
We don't employ robots. We're business people who have experience of running our businesses and therefore understand the importance and value of relationships. We've created a culture of entrepreneurship in our own organisation which puts us on the same page as you. Seeing eye to eye is important in the good times, but is critical in the tough times.
Style of relationship
Relationships are fundamentally important to us. Our management teams testify to the quality of their relationships with us. We will always give an honest opinion and once we have committed we will deliver on our promises. You know where you stand with us. Decades of experience has taught us what works – a collaborative approach to investment that values your expertise and shares your drive to succeed. Nobody knows your business like you – we support management teams, we don't manage them.
Access to new expertise and opportunities
We're a lot more than the deployment of capital. When we invest, we provide a wide range of added value support - support that is proven to accelerate your business growth and development.
Track record
Having successfully completed over 50 investments in the last 10 years, examples abound of companies which have benefitted from our expertise and are achieving success. The management teams we've backed are our best advocates – why not give them a call to find out for yourself.
Delivering results together
We support management teams at all stages of the investment, providing strategic, financial and operational assistance to grow businesses both organically and through acquisition.
Working with management we bring our proven judgement and experience to maximise value for all stakeholders at exit.
We make measurable contributions to businesses, drawing on the extensive experience of our own investment team as well as our network of industrial and professional advisors.
We work with management teams on the following:
Strategy
We align with management to establish a clear strategic vision to maximise value on exit. This can include product development, internationalisation, new market entry, sales and distribution, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and roll-outs.
Finance
We support management teams by putting the optimal capital structure in place and providing funding for growth. Following the initial investment we can also assist in developing management information tools and optimising working capital.
Operations
We help management teams to maximise operational efficiency. Other areas of focus include sales and marketing, business process redesign, procurement, IT and human resources.
The combined focus on strategy, finance and operations culminates in achieving a successful exit. We have proven experience in generating strong returns from a range of exit routes including trade sales, secondary buyouts and IPOs.
Encore in the community
We actively seek to support young entrepreneurs in their first steps towards building successes of tomorrow.
We believe that the potential of the UK's young people is unlimited. We depend and benefit from an active, entrepreneurial environment and a vibrant, forward looking economy and actively seek to support young entrepreneurs in their first steps towards building successes of tomorrow.
As an established capital provider for SME’s in the UK, we are cornerstone investors in Entrepreneur First (EF), Europe’s leading technology start-up programme for graduates, post graduates and young professionals. Investing in EF allows us to financially and operationally support young entrepreneurs as they seek to build disruptive technologies that can have a positive impact on established industries and businesses.
In addition, we are investors in Episode 1, a UK focussed venture capital firm specialising in early stage technology and software investments.
Episode 1 seeks to invest between £250k and £2 million in early stage software driven companies led by smart, dynamic teams trying to build scalable, exciting and valuable businesses.
“This is a very exciting time for Stagecoach. We have a superb management team and have invested heavily over the past couple of years to develop market leading businesses and products. With Encore’s support we intend to continue this investment and increase our international presence, both organically and by acquisition.”
Sarah Kelly
Managing Director - Stagecoach
"Encore is very clear in its approach; the exit strategy is framed from day one, the team's focus on quality is constant and they combine clear ambition with pragmatism.”
Steve Robinson
Chairman - Probikekit