Warrington mobile sector firm receives £3m equity investment

Warrington-based WHP Projects has received a £3m equity investment led by private equity firm, Key Capital Partners.

The provider of support services to the mobile phone industry will use the investment to capitalise on the imminent introduction of 4G in the UK.

WHP also has sites in Wakefield and Bellshill, near Glasgow and turnover has reached £17m this year.

As part of the deal, the Royal Bank of Scotland has provided a term loan and revolving credit facility to support future working capital requirements.

KCP’s investment in WHP was led by partner Peter Armitage and director Mark Buttler. As part of the investment, David Goldie, former chief executive of TalkTalk, has been appointed WHP’s non-executive chairman and Armitage joins the board as non-executive director. They will support the existing management team of managing director Rob Potter, operations director Paul Hullah and commercial director Martyn Cheyne.

Rob Potter said: “We have spent several years building WHP Projects into one of the leading providers of support services to mobile phone operators, nurturing key relationships and investing to ensure the business has the capacity to service the market. We were impressed by KCP’s approach to the deal and their sharing of our vision for the next five years of growth.

“The UK mobile phone market will see large-scale investment as infrastructure isupgraded to support wider and better quality coverage and the business is now in a great position to be part of that. With KCP’s investment and the experience of David Goldie as our new chairman, all involved with WHP can be confident and excited about our future.”

KCP partner Peter Armitage added: “WHP is operating in an exciting, fast-changing market. This investment leaves it perfectly positioned to capitalise on developments in the next three to five years, in particular the rollout of 4G across all major network providers.

“A key focus for the company following the investment will be supporting operators as they look to consolidate and grow their estates and we will be looking to increase WHP’s work share with all the major network providers. With its experienced team of surveyors and engineers, WHP has the expertise to exploit the organic opportunities in the market.”

The management of WHP were advised on the transaction by Chris Froggatt and David Gardner of Convex Capital in Manchester. A team from the Manchester office of BDO, led by Chris Heatlie, provided financial due diligence advice to KCP. Nicola Frost and Alastair Mackinnon of DWF provided legal advice to KCP, and ChrisMoss of JMW was legal adviser to management. Commercial due diligence was provided by Analysys Mason.

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