Praetura Commercial Finance Supports the Delivery Group’s Acquisition of Onepost With Flexible Working Capital Funding

The Challenge

The Delivery Group, created in 2015, is one of the UK’s fastest growing mail and e commerce providers including operations under the brands ‘Secured Mail’ and ‘CMS Network’. The business was subject to a management buy out from Next Wave Partners LLP in June 2018 by Steve Stokes, James Wilkins and Paul Carvell, supported by funding from Praetura Commercial Finance.

Since the MBO, The Delivery Group has actively pursued its strategy to expand its service-range and geographical footprint, leading to its intended acquisition of ONEPOST (Postal Choices Ltd), with the opportunity to bring together two market leaders in mail and e-commerce sectors.

The Solution

Paul Carvell, Chairman of The Delivery Group, said: “Having completed the management buy out with the support of Praetura Commercial Finance, their team was our natural first port of call for this acquisition. I was overwhelmed by both the speed and clarity of Praetura Commercial Finance’s response. Their team had an excellent understanding of what we were looking to achieve and the streamlined due diligence process was conducted quickly to ensure that the timescales for the transaction were met.”

Praetura Commercial Finance delivered the funding facility to support the acquisition, including an injection of working capital to fuel further growth, as the businesses drive volume through the network and leverage the strong synergies and scale-advantages in transport, processes, systems and technology.

The Transformation

As a result of the recent transaction funded by Praetura Commercial Finance, the enlarged group will have a combined annual turnover of £250m, employ 500 staff across seven locations, and manage almost a billion items of mail and packages both in the UK and internationally.

Stuart Bates, Commercial Director, Praetura Commercial Finance said: “We are delighted to have supported Paul and The Delivery Group with such an operationally synergistic acquisition. This is a transformational deal in many ways, as the group achieves its strategic intent to become the premier systems-driven ‘one stop provider’ in the post, package and parcel distribution sector.”