Advising SMH Fleet Solutions on LDC investment

We have advised SMH Fleet Solutions, a vehicle management and logistics support specialist, on securing investment from private equity firm LDC.

SMH Fleet Solutions provides fleet management services, including delivery, preparation, refurbishment and the remarketing of vehicles to automotive manufacturers, rental and leasing specialists, and last year achieved record revenues of over £42m.

The investment will be used to carry out its ‘buy and build’ growth strategy by further expanding across the UK with new sites, as well as acquisitions, following the successful purchase of vehicle remarketing firm CD Auction Group last year.

LDC completed a minority investment and is backing the existing management team.

Our team was led by Corporate partner Simon Gill, supported by Corporate solicitor Matthew Lappin, alongside Tax partner James Gopsill; Banking & Finance partner Christopher Fanner, associate Jonathan Biggs and solicitor Rebecca Wood; Employment associate Jodie Clarke; and Commerce, Technology & Media solicitor Pardeep Lagha.

Martin McAuley, managing director of SMH Fleet Solutions, said: “The business has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years, growing both organically and through targeted acquisitions, which have helped us to continually evolve our service line.

“For us, the time is right to bring an investment partner on board, and with LDC, we are working with a team who understands our ambition for the future. We’re now focused on further expanding our footprint across the UK, and continuing to grow our offering to ensure our customers have a market-leading breadth of support to meet all of their vehicle management needs.”