Sovereign Capital floats Capcon

Sovereign Capital, previously Nash Sells & Partners, successfully floated Capcon, a leading provider of outsourced cash, stocktaking, product launch and product promotion audit and information services to the licensed trade, on the Alternative Investment Market on May 31. In so doing this realised Sovereign Capital’s late 1999 support of the management buyout/ buy-in of the audit businesses of Carlisle Group plc.

The 1999 transaction was worth a total of GBP2 million in which Sovereign Capital invested GBP870,000 in a mixture of preferred ordinary shares and loan stock. The exit represents a 70% IRR and 2.4 times money invested for Sovereign Capital.

Ken Dulieu become executive chairman. Dulieu founded Capitol Consultants, which later listed in May 1994 as Capitol Group plc. Capitol undertook ten acquisitions over the next four years before being acquired by Carlisle Holdings Limited in October 1998. The 1999 management buyout/ buy-in saw Capcon purchase, inter alia, the contracts, goodwill and fixed assets of the audit and stocktaking division of Carlisle Group plc, together with the right to develop a commercial investigatory business.

Peter Brooks at Sovereign Capital said: “A flotation on AIM given the recent volatility of the market, particularly those with an IT element, provides proof of the company’s quality.” Richard Wevill also worked on the transaction with Brooks.

Capcon provides clients, on a monthly basis, with independent, regular and accurate information in both electronic and graphic form. It allows them to detect and analyse theft of stock or cash and to monitor sales and margin data and thereby negotiate with suppliers and track new product launches and associated promotional activity.