The business

ACIS (Advanced Communications and Information Systems), was the UK’s leading provider of real time passenger information systems. Inflexion acquired it in April 2005 in a deal valued at £25 million. In the subsequent 19 months, as well as continuing to roll out its UK customer base, ACIS had proved a new revenue stream of international sales and saw its profits double. Tandata, a complementary information systems business was also acquired in October 2005 opening up the airport information market. ACIS was listed in the Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 listing for three consecutive years.

The investment

The accelerated success of the company enabled us to consider various exit options earlier than originally anticipated. We opted for a competitive dual track disposal, led by Investec Corporate Finance.

Our entire stake in ACIS was sold in a secondary buyout to The Carlyle Group for £58.5 million. In 19 months we made a return of 3.3x our original investment and an IRR of over 100%.

The original buyout, subsequent acquisition of Tandata and ultimate exit were led by Simon Turner and Christian Hamilton.