FSP, founded in 2007 by Phillip Greenfield, is a consolidator of funeral care providers. Phillip Greenfield is a former founder and director of Fairways, which he grew to manage 6,000 funerals per year and was subsequently sold to the Co-Operative Group in 2006.
Graham Hodson, who is currently a non executive director of FSP and well known in the industry, will take the position as chairman.
Phillip Greenfield commented: “We are delighted to be working with August Equity. August Equity has very strong credentials in buy-and-builds and we feel they are well placed to help in the next stage of development of FSP. Their investment, along with an acquisition facility from HSBC will allow us to further expand our operations throughout the UK.”
August Equity partner, Philip Rattle, said: “The FSP deal represents the fourth investment in our latest fund, AEP II. This investment has many characteristics that we look for in all our investments; a strong management team with a good track record, a compelling strategy to grow the business and the opportunity to consolidate a fragmented market. We look forward to working with the management team to further develop the business.”
The August Equity team consisted of Philip Rattle, Aatif Hassan and David Lonsdale. Both Philip Rattle and Aatif Hassan will take a seat on the board.
For further details of the deal contact Philip Rattle at philip.rattle@augustequity.com