LDC exits Phones International

Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC) has sold its minority stake in Phones International Group, the UK mobile phones distributor back to the company’s chairman and chief executive Peter Jones.

Anthony Bull, investment director at LDC, said: “When we invested in Phones International, the major networks were encouraging the creation of independent service providers, but now they have changed their approach and want to own the customers themselves. This provided us with an opportunity to exit.”

The IRR on LDC’s investment was 20%.

LDC invested in Phones International in June 2002 off its own balance sheet. Peter Jones, who founded the company in 1998, now owns 100% of the company. The value of the sale, the size of LDC’s stake, and how much LDC acquired the stake for were not disclosed.