UDEX adds HSBC PE to its list of funders

Investee Company – UDEX (UK)

Investee Company Business Type – Provides complete, structured product descriptions

Type of Financing – Development

Equity Providers – HSBC Private Equity, Northbridge Ventures, 3i

Equity Leader (Individual) – Andy Thesen, HSBC Private Equity

Debt Providers – N/A

Debt Type – N/A

Debt Leader (Individual) – N/A

Equity Amount – £7 million

Total Deal Value – £7 million

Other Advisors – N/A

Comments – HSBC Private Equity has led a £7 million round of development capital funding in product descriptions provider UDEX. The equity round incorporated £4.6 million provided by HSBC Private Equity, £1.5 million from Northbridge Ventures and £0.9 million from 3i, which has backed UDEX since 1998.

Established in 1997, UDEX focuses on establishing and maintaining a global masterfile of complete, structured, commonly coded product descriptions, together with their associated barcodes. The masterfile has been produced under common global standards to become the industry standard throughout the supply chain.

UDEX operates in terms of an independent and non-partial proviso, and makes its product descriptions available to organisations within a commercial context. Current clients in the UK are Tesco and Sainsbury’s, alongside the World Wide Retail Exchange (WWRE) which has adopted the system in the US.

UDEX CEO John English commented: “We and HSBC Private Equity are delighted at the degree and speed of acceptance which UDEX has achieved and are convinced that we have established an excellent foundation for the general acceptance of our standard for product descriptions.”