County Durham finance firm Anglo Scottish Asset Finance Ltd has completed a management buyout to take back control of the business.
Anglo Scottish, based in Chester-le-Street, was founded in 2007 and quickly established its name in the finance brokerage industry. It was acquired eight years later by McMillan Shakespeare Group, a publicly listed Australian company. McMillan Shakespeare Group has now made the strategic decision to exit the UK and focus on its core capabilities in Australia, allowing the management team in the North East to complete a management buyout.
The deal has been backed by a consortium of UK-based funders, the company’s original founding directors, wider management team, existing employees, and contractual agents. The MBO will trigger expansion of the company’s presence in the UK as it looks to develop new funding options for customers while establishing new partnerships and joint ventures.
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The announcement comes after a strong year for the business in which it added three new divisions – renewables, agriculture and ground transport – to add to those already covering vehicle finance, asset finance and commercial finance. The company now has 86 employees, with new staff based in Scotland, Merseyside, Yorkshire, London and Devon. It also has 68 agents in its network. The company brokered over 12,900 deals in the financial year 2022/23, chalking up £519m of brokered business.
Managing director David Foster said Anglo Scottish will use the funding raised for the deal to tap into new technologies and expand its capacity to bring in new clients and support partner relationships within the sector.
He said the MBO marks a “landmark moment”, adding: “With this continuing growth, we see a huge opportunity to develop a new way of doing business, offering a broker/funder hybrid service to our customers and bringing us closer to our industry partners. While the MBO gives us the financial strength to broaden our market and offering, we will maintain the identity and independent approach that our existing customers and partners have come to expect.
We look forward to a promising future, anticipating continued growth and success for our management team, employees, and the businesses and individuals we serve.”
During the MBO process, the company offered investment opportunities to all employed staff and agents, allowing all to benefit from the company’s success.
