Zenith is one of the UK’s leading independent leasing, fleet management and vehicle outsourcing providers.

The firm is a result of a merger between Leasedrive and Zenith Vehicle Contracts, who came together to form Zenith in 2014.

Driving growth

In 2008, LDC backed the management buyout of Leasedrive and, during the course of a five-year investment period, worked in close partnership with the management team to implement a strategic organic growth plan.

This plan involved the expansion of Leasedrive’s contract hire customer base and helping the management to identify and fulfil the completion of complementary acquisitions.

In 2010, the business acquired Masterlease UK, also demonstrating impressive organic growth, and secured a major contract with Mercedes Benz Financial Services.

During the course of LDC’s partnership, Leasedrive achieved substantial sales and profit growth of 200 per cent.

Merging for success

In 2013, LDC completed its exit from Leasedrive and subsequently re-invested in the business, retaining an interest as part of a new deal with HgCapital, which acquired a controlling stake.

Following the merger in 2014, Zenith continued to grow and in 2016 was ranked 33rd in The Sunday Times Top Track 250.

In January 2017, HgCapital agreed the sale of Zenith to Bridgepoint, in a transaction totalling £750m. The deal also marked an exit for LDC, which had retained a minority stake in the business in 2013.

Aesica Pharmaceuticals manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients.

In 2004 LDC supported an MBO of Aesica Pharmaceuticals from its parent company BASF.

Manufacturing expansion

Between 2005 and 2011, LDC provided management with financial and strategic support to implement a rapid and impressive expansion plan. This has focused on enhancing the Aesica manufacturing capabilities, developing new service lines, adding new products to its portfolio and increasing its presence in major international growth markets.

The business also acquired two UK manufacturing sites, three manufacturing sites in Germany and Italy and leading specialist R5 Pharmaceuticals.

Aesica established itself as one of the top 12 pharmaceutical contract manufacturers globally. This success is reflected in turnover growth which rose seven-fold to $180million and number of employees grew from 150 (2004) to 1,300 (2011). The company also ranked third in the Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100 in 2011, having grown every year for the previous three years.

In 2011 LDC exited Aesica to Silverfleet Capital.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Bolton, Love Business connects small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with a diversified base of blue-chip utility providers, spanning energy, water and digital connectivity.

The business supports more than 80,000 unique SME customers nationwide, and has been independently recognised as the most trusted business-energy price comparison specialist in the UK by Trustpilot.

Backing investment

In September 2018, LDC invested more than £25m in Love Business to accelerate its ambitious organic growth strategy. Since then, the business has grown revenue to £23m in its latest financial year ending December 2022, with revenue forecasted to hit more than £30m in its current financial year.

LDC’s partnership is supporting the management team’s plans to expand Love Business and its corporate services division, which supports major energy users across the industrial and commercial sector. It is supporting the continued diversification of the business and further investment in its proprietary technology platform, which allows its SME customers to self-serve online.

Leveraging LDC’s network

As well as financial support, LDC has made strategic introductions for Love Business to several of its 90-strong portfolio, identifying and capitalising on the many opportunities for SMEs to make energy savings at the same time as growing Love Business’s customer base.

Neilson Active Holidays (Neilson) is a UK-based sports tour operator providing quality all inclusive active package holidays to both beach and mountain resort locations.

Demand-driven expansion

To support its organic expansion strategy, the management team partnered with LDC in 2018 to support consumer demand for activity and wellness holidays.

The business is led by CEO David Taylor, formerly of TUI, and Chair Tracy Lewis, former Global CEO of Wacoal and former LDC investment, Eveden.

In 2026, Neilson is set to open two new five-star resorts, one in Sicily and the other in Mauritius, as part of its new Neilson Inside Collection. Mauritius will be Neilson’s first long-haul option.

LDC originally completed a minority investment in Right Choice Insurance Brokers in 2018, supporting the management team to create Lucida Group in 2021.

The group of insurance broking businesses includes specialists in private car, motorcycle, commercial, breakdown and third party administration insurance.

Lucida Group has a strategy to drive ongoing growth and success by supporting its specialist businesses to grow in their respective niches.

In 2025, Lucida Group exited its Commercial SME insurance specialist arm Moorhouse to insurance distribution platform Atec Group.

In February 2026, Lucida Group announced the appointment of Nicola George as Group Chief Underwriting Officer.

Precision Micro is Europe’s market-leading photo-chemical etching supplier, with roots dating back to the early 1900s.

Precision Micro is one of the world’s largest chemical etching companies, manufacturing more than 60m high-precision metal components each year from safety and mission-critical automotive and aerospace parts to life-saving medical implants.

Operating from its state-of-the-art processing plant in Birmingham, it supplies leading international companies in the UK, USA, Europe, and more than 30 other countries worldwide.

Significant buyout

In April 2018, LDC backed the £22.5m management buyout of Precision Micro from global aerospace, defence and energy group Meggitt plc.

Our partnership with Precision Micro won SME Deal of the Year at the Midlands Dealmaker Awards later that year.

Embedding environmental improvements

Through its partnership with LDC, Precision Micro continues to drive forward its organic growth alongside its ESG commitments.

In 2023, Precision Micro announced a series of environmental improvements, highlighted in the release of its first ESG Impact report.  Reducing its total waste by 45%, increasing its waste material recycling to 98% and energy used from renewable sources is 100% are some of the wins they are reporting.

The business also invested £1.8m to expand its manufacturing capacity and support its journey to net zero with the addition of a second etch room at its Fort Dunlop-based site in Birmingham.

This will enable Precision Micro to meet global demand for next-generation energy technologies such as hydrogen production and storage, green energy buffering and electric and hydrogen vehicles. Precision Micro has also worked with suppliers to ensure all new equipment has been developed in line with its ESG strategy, automating many parts of the manufacturing process and using less power to achieve the same consistent results.

Blue Bay Travel is the award-winning online travel agent specialising in long-haul holidays to the Caribbean, Mexico and the Indian Ocean.

Founded in 2003 by Stuart and Angela Wilson, Blue Bay Travel provides holidays to long-haul destinations.

Investing in technology

In February 2017 Blue Bay Travel secured a minority investment from LDC to support organic growth and enhance its proprietary price comparison technology.

Pioneering processes

Since partnering with LDC, the business has invested in its technology platform, expanded Blue Bay’s office space and launched its premium Xclusivity brand, providing a broadened geographic and bespoke product offering to customers.

In addition, Blue Bay Travel also pioneered online transacting in the long-haul travel market with its online and offline booking and customer service model, which sets it apart from more traditional operators in the luxury segment.

This investment in technology has led to more than 30 per cent of its bookings being made online, as consumers shopping for premium holidays turn increasingly to online channels.

A partnership with members-only travel site Secret Escapes is also bringing a widened audience to Blue Bay Travel’s growing customer base.

Leveraging insights from its international reputation-research programme, Blue Rubicon cultivates long-standing relationships, advising and coaching CEOs and their teams.

It provides counsel to some of the world’s largest companies as they navigate high-stakes moments including CEO transitions, strategy shifts, turnarounds, restructuring and integration post mergers and acquisition.

Investing in business development

In 2012 we acquired a significant stake in Blue Rubicon.

The deal enabled the agency to invest in new talent, further strengthen services, respond to client demand for broader capabilities in the UK and expand its footprint in key international markets.

Following our support, Blue Rubicon opened offices in Qatar, Dubai and Singapore, and completed the acquisitions of research firm Hesleden Partners and Open Road a London-based public affairs communications agency.

Established in 1995, PDG Aviation Services (PDG) are the UK and Ireland’s leading provider of aerial survey, inspection and lifting solutions, working across the infrastructure and environmental sectors, from utilities, rail and telecommunications, to renewables, marine, defence and national parks. Using their dedicated fit-for-purpose fleet of aircraft, combined with specialist camera equipment and sensor technology, PDG provide aerial solutions in support of their customers critical infrastructure.

Helping the business take flight

In 2015, we backed the £20m management buyout of the business and partnered with PDG’s management team to support their growth journey.

The deal saw LDC take a majority stake in the business, with management investing alongside and holding a substantial minority stake. Following the investment, the firm’s management team is increasing capacity and investing in additional fleet to support the continued growth of the company.

In 2025, PDG acquired Team UAV, a leading provider of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) solutions. This strategic move strengthens PDG’s position as a comprehensive aerial services provider, integrating cutting-edge UAV technology with its extensive expertise in manned aviation and enhances PDG’s capabilities in aerial surveying, inspections and imaging.

Stroma is the UK’s leading provider of technology-driven safety, sustainability and compliance services to clients across all stages of the building lifecycle, from pre-construction through to occupancy. Its services include testing, consultancy and building control, along with inspection and maintenance work.

As part of its testing and consultancy work, it helps customers from multi-national corporations to SMEs on their journey to becoming net zero through increasing energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions and wastage.

Investing for impact

Since LDC invested in Stroma in 2014, the business has expanded its range of sustainability services in design and consultancy to become a leading provider to the built environment industry. It is currently in the advanced stages of the B-Corporation certification process.

LDC also supported Stroma to acquire three building control businesses which further strengthened its inspection and compliance offering. Over the period of LDC’s partnership, the business has delivered award-winning training programmes to around 2,500 professionals, guiding the next generation of building control specialists in the industry. Today, Stroma employs 350 people across its 14 regional offices which include sites in Cannock, London, Maidstone and Truro.

Martin Holt, CEO of Stroma, said: “Stroma’s core purpose of providing safety, sustainability and compliance service within the built environment has been developed with the full support of the LDC team.”

OnApp helps to simplify the IT systems used by its customers by providing powerful cloud platforms.

More than 3,000 companies in 93 countries use its software. It has staff across Europe, America and Asia-Pacific and is headquartered in London.

The business was spun off in 2011 from its parent company, the UK2 Group.

Support for growth

We provided development capital to support OnApp’s growth plans.

During its partnership with LDC, OnApp added a global CDN to the OnApp platform, enabling its customers to reach over 170 locations on demand and accelerate video, application and website delivery for their customers.

We also supported the business to acquire SolusVM, the virtual server management system used by thousands of service providers to offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud hosting.

Virtuozzo, a global leader in high-efficiency virtualization and hyperconverged software solutions, acquired OnApp in 2021.

Elovate (formerly Mosaic Fulfilment Solutions) provides end-to-end outsourced business services to a broad range of clients across the retail, e-commerce, FMCG and not-for-profit sectors. 

LDC partnered with Elovate’s management team in 2019 to support the next stage of the business’ growth journey. This includes identifying complementary acquisitions and investing in new product development to broaden its range of services.

As part of the initial investment, Elovate acquired CommittedGiving, a digital payments business, as well as invested to double capacity at its York HQ.