Founded in 1977, Aqualisa is the UK’s leading designer, developer and producer of innovative shower products. The company invented the world’s first digital shower and is known for its commitment to innovation and new product development, particularly in the smart bathroom category.

Knowledge and financial support

In September 2015, we completed the secondary buyout of Aqualisa, making a significant investment to help drive organic growth.

A smart and sustainable plan

Over the next seven years, we supported the company’s new product development, with a particular focus on smart home showers that have personalisation, water- and eco-friendly benefits.

We also helped the management team to expand internationally through new partnerships with distributors and customers across Europe.

Over the same period, Aqualisa invested in its own ESG programme. This included analysing energy consumption monthly and running employee awareness campaigns to help reduce consumption. As a result, Aqualisa now diverts 100% of waste from landfill and has been classified as carbon neutral.

Cellhire is a global telecoms provider of mobile communications, M2M/IoT services and data connectivity.

Headquartered in York, Cellhire offers high-speed and secure ways for businesses and partners to stay connected worldwide. It has built key partnerships with UK mobile network operators (MNOs) Vodafone, O2 and EE through long established ISP agreements. Internationally it has developed partnerships with more than 40 MNOs and is the preferred supplier of mobile data and M2M and IoT connectivity for clients involved in major sporting events around the world, such as the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Cellhire serves customers across multiple distribution channels including B2B, B2C, White Label, Partner and M2M/IoT wholesale airtimes from offices in the UK, Germany, France, Japan and the USA.

Expanding a market-leading service proposition

LDC backed the management team of Cellhire, led by Founder, Tim Williams, in 2022. We are supporting the business to expand its product and service offering and further develop its IoT proposition.

In January 2024, Cellhire announced the appointment of Tony Guerion as Group Chief Executive Officer to strengthen the business’ IoT proposition. Tony brings with him over 27 years of experience in business leadership and management in the communications industry.

Founded in 1998, Solid Solutions is the UK and Ireland’s leading reseller of SOLIDWORKS, the 3D computer aided design (CAD) package that is owned by Dassault Systems and used by more than five million people worldwide. The company provides software, support and training to thousands of engineers, designers and manufacturing companies across the UK and Ireland.

With headquarters in Leamington Spa, Solid Solutions operates from 23 offices across the UK and Ireland.

A plan for expansion

In February 2020, the firm’s management team, led by CEO and Founder Alan Sampson, CTO Simon Turner and CSO Kathy Sampson, secured a minority investment from LDC to deliver organic and acquisitive growth.

LDC supported Solid Solutions to acquire Design Rule Limited and Desktop Engineering Limited in 2021. In addition to expanding its customer base, the acquisitions further enhanced Solid Solutions’ ability to deliver advanced design, engineering, and enterprise-wide solutions for its customers.

LDC also helped the business to pivot more of its training sessions to online skills development events which resulted in additional customers adopting more advanced software solutions. The switch to remote training has helped Solid Solutions to lower its carbon emissions and forms an integral part of its ESG strategy. The business has planted more than 9,000 trees in forests in developing countries as part of its commitment to plant 50 trees for every Solid Print3D machine sold.

Cleveland Group (Cleveland) is the UK’s largest supplier of shipping containers.

Founded in 2011, Cleveland began as a small family-run shipping container business. Since evolving into Cleveland Group in 2022, the company now operates across three divisions – Cleveland Containers, Cleveland Hire and Cleveland Modular – supplying everything from shipping containers and bespoke conversions to anti-vandal accommodation units and complex modular buildings.

The business was founded by husband-and-wife Johnathan and Jane Bulmer. It specialises in the sale and hire of shipping containers and site accommodation units with around 15,500 trading customers from a diverse range of sectors.

Supporting a local North East business to become national

LDC first backed Cleveland’s management team in June 2022 to support the next stage of its growth and expansion plans. This included plans to enhance the company’s sales and rental offering, while also creating opportunities for new and existing employees.

Following LDC’s minority investment, the business has grown 30 per cent year-on-year, has more than doubled its headcount from 45 to 100 and expanded with depots in Scotland, the Midlands, the South West and most recently opened a new five-acre depot at the Port of Newport in South Wales – the largest site in the company’s history.

The business has several initiatives as part of its commitment to improved social and environmental responsibility including partnering with Ecologi, an organisation which aims to reduce the carbon footprints of businesses by supporting sustainability projects. Cleveland became carbon neutral in 2023.

Headquartered in Bristol, with offices in Cardiff and LA, Plimsoll Productions is an independent television production company. Its BAFTA, EMMY and Academy Award-winning team specialises in wildlife, documentary and factual entertainment shows.

Supporting new growth opportunities

In 2019, we backed Founder Grant Mansfield and his management team with a minority investment. The transaction valued the company at around £80m.

Over the next three years, Plimsoll invested in its natural history and documentary programming, launched a factual drama division and pursued further growth, both organically and through acquisition. With LDC’s support, Plimsoll grew sales from £35m (FY19) to £50m, and recorded an EBITDA of £10m (FY21).

It acquired specialist distribution and rights management company, Magnify Media, which now distributes to 75 countries worldwide through its network, and appointed US entertainment industry veteran Mark Itkin, who joined Plimsoll’s board to advise on strategy.

First established as a service in 1961 by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, BCIS is the leading independent provider of construction data to the built environment and insurance sectors.  

BCIS supports approximately 4,000 customers across the construction, facilities management and insurance sectors, providing access to the industry’s most comprehensive data sets on building costs and rates. Subscribers access its services through a range of online applications, publications and data licensing agreements. 

Partnership to invest in technology and data

LDC backed the management team, led by former CEO James Fiske, in 2022 to further invest in its technology platform and data in order to enhance its services and insight for its customers. 

RICS will retained a minority shareholding in the company.

In March 2025, Richard Linstead, previously Chief Product and Technology Officer, was appointed CEO, with James Fiske becoming Executive Director. 

Asset Solutions Group, previously OCS Asset Solutions, is a leading provider of supply chain management, stocktaking and merchandising services to the grocery and general retail sector.

It trades as Retail & Asset Solutions and its customers include big brands Sainsbury’s, Jack Wills, Tesco and Close Brothers.

As well as providing highly trained, on-site personnel for major outsourced stocktaking and merchandising assignments, the business has developed specialised expertise in RFID technology for stock accuracy and loss prevention as well as supply chain assurance services.

Forest Holidays is the owner and operator of environmentally sensitive cabins set across Britain’s forests. Since the mid-1970s, the Company has sensitively created cabins under the guiding principles of sustainable woodland use and the preservation of the countryside and biodiversity. 

In 2012 LDC completed a significant investment to support a management buyout and the roll-out of new Forest Holidays sites, while also supporting its sustainability strategy.

In 2017 Phoenix Equity Partners acquired a controlling stake in Forest Holidays with the Forestry Commission, LDC, and the management team each retained significant minority stakes. LDC continued to support the business up until 2022 when it agreed a merger with Sykes Holiday Cottages.

A decade long partnership to support growth

During LDC’s 10-year partnership with the business, the management team opened five new locations across the UK. To date, Forest Holidays has invested over £100m into Britain’s forests, increasing recreational use, improving facilities, and creating and maintaining trails. It has 12 forest locations with many in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park in Scotland.

CTI Digital (CTI) is a full-service digital agency, providing a range of services spanning digital marketing, web and app development, digital strategy and AI and innovation.

CTI has grown into an industry leader through its commitment to people, its clients, and its use of innovative and cutting-edge technologies.

Building on momentum

LDC first backed the CTI team in February 2022, making a £25m minority investment to help the business boost its presence in the UK and overseas.

This includes plans to expand into new international territories, and open new offices to support its growing customer base.

Growth by acquisition

In July 2022, CTI made its first acquisition since LDC’s investment by acquiring app development agency Silverchip.

Headquartered in Ellesmere Port, EMS Group Solutions (EMS) is one of the UK’s leading providers of mobile clinical solutions to the healthcare sector.

EMS owns, operates and manages one of the UK’s most extensive fleet of flexible mobile medical units and vehicles, including mobile labs, mobile dialysis units, mobile decontamination units and community diagnostic vehicles. Through its clinical trials, healthcare and marketing divisions, the business’ bespoke services and facilities can be configured to suit a range of healthcare needs and clinical environments.

Making healthcare more accessible

EMS has supported public and private healthcare providers for more than 10 years to reduce patient waiting times and make healthcare more accessible. It is currently supporting clinical trials in the UK for a potentially revolutionary new blood test which could detect over 50 kinds of cancer before symptoms appear. The business also provides marketing solutions to healthcare and med-tech customers across Europe and The Middle East.

LDC completed a minority investment in EMS in 2022. LDC is supporting the management team, led by Founder Keith Austin, to further support the growth of EMS’ fleet and expand the range of clinical services it supports.

Stuart Turner is an international market leader in water-boosting solutions and has over a century of engineering experience.

Founded in 1906, with strong heritage in engineering and product innovation, Stuart Turner has an established reputation for high-quality products for the commercial and domestic markets, including a patented solution for mains water pressure issues.

Growing through acquisition

LDC backed Stuart Turner in 2017 to help accelerate its buy and build strategy and target further growth in the commercial pumps sector.

During a four-year partnership, LDC supported the business to make three complementary acquisitions and to expand its range of products and services.

In 2018, the business acquired GAH Heating, which was soon followed by the addition of Fluid Water Solutions in 2019. In March 2021, LDC supported Stuart Turner to acquire the UK’s leading mains-powered pressurisation unit and heating systems provider, Mikrofill Systems.

Creating the complete solutions provider in the market

Alongside a strong focus on new product development, these acquisitions have helped Stuart Turner to become a complete solutions provider in the pressurisation and hot water generation market across the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors.

In December 2021, LDC sold its stake in the business to Epiris. During Stuart Turner’s partnership with LDC, the business increased its revenues by over 66%, from £24m in 2017 to more than £40m this financial year, and headcount also increased to more than 125.

Listen to the CEO of Stuart Turner, Richard Harden in ‘The Manufacturer Podcast: Stuart Turner – a growth success story’ as he discusses the company’s remarkable growth in recent years.

Headquartered in Cheshire, SRL is the leading manufacturer and Equipment-as-a-Service provider for temporary, portable and semi-permanent intelligent traffic lights and variable messaging signs (VMS). It offers mission critical assets from its nationwide network of 30 depots across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

SRL’s equipment is used in many of the UK’s key infrastructure projects, primarily supporting the traffic management industry and event companies. Think of any town centre and you’ll have seen the traffic lights, pedestrian systems and VMS signs that provide road users with information, directions and safety guidance.

Private equity partnership in action

In September 2019, we invested £24m to back the management buyout of the SRL business in the UK and ROI, as it embarked on the next phase of its growth strategy. The buyout was led by SRL’s existing CEO Richard Tredwin and his long-standing management team.