The life and less ordinary times of LDC

Great news on two fronts…firstly we have been able to invest in the secondary buyout of Ocean Outdoor, the leading operator of digital ‘Out of Home’ (‘OOH’) advertising sites and secondly…and of perhaps of most importance is the recognition they received at last night’s LoveContent awards during the Screenmedia Expo 2012 when they received an Industry Award.

This award recognises the organisation or individual that has done the most to drive the industry forward over the last 12 months. Last year they received an award for the Best New Digital Site, which was for Ocean’s Eat Street, Westfield & Hammersmith Towers site.

Outdoor advertising in the UK is worth close to £1 billion in annual revenues and Ocean operates in the fastest growing segment: digital OOH advertising. This has been growing at around 30% annually – on current trends it is expanding at three times the rate of the overall advertising market – and Ocean’s recent growth rates have been ahead of the sector average.

Congratulations to Ocean from everyone at LDC and we look forward to seeing even more recognition in the months and year’s ahead!

Note: This is LDC’s second media transaction in the past 12 months, with over £154million now invested as part of LDC’s £200million commitment to the TMT sector. YTD LDC has invested over £150million in nine businesses, bringing LDC’s 12 month equity run rate to over £440million.

Article on LDC‘s portfolio company ‘Easynet Global Services’ and their relationship building with key partners with the help of LDC’s Asian operation.

Easynet Global Services is a specialist telecommunications business that designs and manages data networks for large businesses as well as providing managed hosting and video conferencing solutions around the globe.

LDC invested in Easynet in 2010 from BSkyB for £100million, which is LDC’s largest single investment to date. The company has grown strongly over the past two years with some notable client wins and with six offices in Asia (China and Hong Kong) has the largest presence in the region of LDC’s portfolio companies.

Arjen Berendsen, Easynet’s Managing Director USA and Asia Pacific, explains how the firm has capitalized on its relationship with LDC and, in particular, the experience and expertise that LDC’s Hong Kong office has built up in the region and the contribution this has made to Easynet’s growth.

 “LDC has been very supportive since the acquisition and we have made the most of the opportunities that LDC’s portfolio companies and its strong international relationships offer, as well as taking advantage of its growing presence in Asia. LDC has really engaged with our business and we continually share information, market perceptions and insights”.

LDC has facilitated relationships with complementary businesses and strategic partners, both within its portfolio, e.g. UK2 Group, an international web hosting company, and OnApp, a Cloud, CDN and storage software provider, and externally, e.g. Gammon Construction, a leading construction company in Southeast Asia, and PwC.

The firm has helped us with our networking in Asia, putting us in touch with potential customers or joint venture partners from the deep array of corporate contacts LDC has built up. This leveraging of LDC’s contacts base has been very useful and has thrown up opportunities and relationships that we would not have been able to discover on our own.

LDC has also helped us build relationships with companies in which they have invested. For example, last year LDC put us in touch with Itibia, a company, which manufactures customer premises telecom equipment, based near Shanghai and in which LDC has made a sizeable investment. We are currently speaking to them regarding possible co-operation and a joint venture on product development at a global level.

The introduction of potential new customers by LDC, such as Hong Kong Academy, as well as the Asian operations of existing customers, such as French construction giant Bouygues, has also supported our Asia Pacific sales strategy.

In addition, LDC has provided valuable insight and good contacts at key strategic bodies such as UK Trade and Investment, a government department that works with UK businesses to help ensure they are aware of and capitalise on projects in international markets. For example, we have been introduced into their High Value Opportunities programme, which includes an IT tender for the West Kowloon Cultural District, with a total value of up to £1.7billion.

LDC’s continual support, whether to help us build better relationships in the UK and within their portfolio, or in Asia, where LDC’s office has been very active on our behalf is helping us build a better business – and that is in all our interests, whether staff, customers or investors.

 To download the full article please click here.

Article on LDC‘s portfolio company ‘Original Additions’ and their international expansion plans with the help of LDC’s Asian operation.

Katy Perry Eylure Launch

LDC backed leading beauty accessories supplier Original Additions in July 2011, to support the MBO of the business. A significant player in the beauty accessories market for more than 30 years, selling branded eyelashes, nails and professional beauty products, Original Additions has an annual turnover of more than £30million and its core brands include Eylure, Elegant Touch and Salon System.

The business is going from strength to strength, both in the UK and overseas. After a ground-breaking collaboration with Girls Aloud through the Eylure brand of false eyelashes, Original Additions’ growth strategy is now increasingly focused on key international markets, with, the recent USA launch of Katy Perry lashes by Eylure showing early signs of success.

Original Additions is now working increasingly closely with LDC’s office based in Hong Kong, in order to maximise competitive pricing advantages and to help gain a better understanding of consumer trends in Asia. Simon Zussman, Managing Director, Original Additions explains:

“Original Additions entered the Chinese market in 2011 with our Eylure brand, and from the offset, we decided to use a distributor that was already known to us in order to ensure a level of familiarity and continuity of business practice. That said we are very much on a learning curve as our work in the Chinese market evolves, and in particular we want to build a sound understanding of consumer needs in this part of the world and where possible, create opportunities to build our Eylure false eyelash brand in Asia.

“To this end, leveraging an association with LDC’s operation based out in Hong Kong has been extremely helpful. This ‘local’ team has been able to supply our business with valuable research into consumer trends and insights into cosmetic application, all of which is helping us to gain a better understanding of the spending habits of young Chinese consumers.

“Although we have a well-established network of manufacturers already in place in Asia, the LDC team in Hong Kong has been adding value and actively advising us on their ‘freight club’ contacts in order to help us gain further price advantages in our shipping of goods to the UK.

“Original Additions is engaged in a project that will help to secure manufactured product supply over the medium to long term. Due to the complexity of this arrangement, we’ve looked to LDC’s Hong Kong office for guidance and support around financial structuring and legal issues, and the LDC team has been able to assist and provide clarification on all aspects of this process.

“Having this local ‘on the ground’ insight and understanding has been extremely helpful for our business and the level of strategic support that LDC’s Hong Kong team has brought to Original Additions throughout what has been an important period of growth has been invaluable. What’s more, this international relationship undoubtedly assists LDC’s team here in the UK to better understand the opportunities and workings of our business and workings of our business in this all important Asian market.”

To download the full article please click here.

By Mark Beaumont

Fourteen weeks ago I was in the fight of my life.  That’s not meant to sound melodramatic, it’s a very real statement of fact.  

I was 530 miles offshore from Barbados, in the Atlantic Ocean when my rowing boat was capsized by a wave.  It was then fourteen hours before a cargo vessel managed to find me, along with my five team-mates and pluck us to safety.  When disaster struck we had been at sea for 27 days and nights, each man rowing for 12 hours a day and battling hard for the World Record for rowing the Atlantic.  

You can read the full account of what happened in my blogs for the Independent: http://blogs.independent.co.uk

LDC have been a great supporter of this expedition, as they were for many of my previous adventures.  My enterprise has always been about figuring out what’s possible, pushing expectations.  Whilst wearing suits instead of lycra, LDC completely share this mindset, so we have got on brilliantly over the last six years!  And so it’s been interesting for me to come back after sharing so many successful expedition, to talk about the Atlantic, where we failed.  You can call it a success because we all survived, but in terms of what we set out to do, we failed.  

In my life of adventures, this is not the first time that I have been in a tight spot and facing grave danger, but it is the first time that I have thought I might not come home.  Facing your own mortality is an amazingly powerful moment in anyone’s life and I have been fascinated how the mind deals with that.  It has certainly shuffled my priorities.  I recently wrote in a blog that ‘no other achievement has ever given me such lessons for the future’.  I now realise that there can be even more value in knock backs than from doing exactly what you set out to do.’  http://www.insights.com

My very first event after coming back to terra-firma and the UK was an LDC dinner in the London office.  It went very well, but it wasn’t easy.  Just a few weeks after the capsize this was the first time I had to find the words to describe what had happened and it was a very raw account of how we survived.  At the time of the accident the adrenaline kept me entirely focused and I am relieved about how I was able to act in such conditions.  However, it is afterwards that you have to come to terms with what happened, and to heal that mental scar. For the first eight weeks afterwards I had many highs and lows as I tried to rationalise what had happened.  I even spoke to a psychiatrist trying to deal with my mental roller-coaster.  I think this is worth sharing, as there is little value in being the hard man and pretending that nothing can touch us.  Phil Jones from Brother UK Ltd was at that London event and wrote a blog afterwards about how adventure is relevant to business.  http://www.philjones.biz/

The two most useful bits of advice that I can pass on for facing any set backs are: 

 1) Force yourself to see things as they are – don’t spin the facts to yourself or others.  Justifying or blaming will not do any good to anyone.  Facing and accepting the facts can be the hardest part of any set back. 

2) Don’t bury it – in our busy lives its easy to try to forget bad experiences, but they are there to be learnt from and will come back and bite you if you try to ignore them!

LDC’s London team are supporting the efforts of London’s Air Ambulance.

This is a fabulous life saving facility operating in the heart of London, and is the only air ambulance currently active in London. 

LDC’s London team will be supporting this charity throughout 2012/13 with a number of events and activities – the first of which really does take some courage…the abseil down the Broadgate Tower in the City of London on the 26^th April!!

Three members of LDC’s London team (all women I have to note…) have volunteered to join the 100 volunteers hoping to raise £30,000 for the charity.  It’s a big ask – it averages out at £300 per head, which I know is a big stretch. But every donation, however large or small, will make a difference. 

 Here is the link to the Just Giving web page: www.justgiving.com/TeamAshurstAbseilers

About London’s Air Ambulance

London’s Air Ambulance is the charity which runs London’s helicopter emergency medical service.  The service provides pre-hospital medical care to victims of serious injury, at the scene of the incident, throughout London – serving the 10 million people who live, work and commute within the M25.  

Based at the Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, the service is unique in that it operates 24/7, with the helicopter running in daylight hours and rapid response cars taking over at night. 

The Team, which at all times includes a Senior Trauma Doctor and a specially trained Paramedic, perform advanced medical interventions, normally only found in the Hospital Emergency Department, in time critical, life threatening situations. Missions commonly involve serious road traffic collisions, falls from height, industrial accidents, assaults and injuries on the rail network.

London’s Air Ambulance has an international reputation for clinical excellence and delivers pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world.  For more information take a look at: http://www.londonsairambulance.co.uk/index.php