Literacy Capital plc (“Literacy”) is pleased to announce that Three Hills Capital Partners (“Three Hills”) has backed a management buy-out of Kernel Global (“Kernel”). Kernel is a holding company of two high-quality trading brands, Dartmouth Partners and Pure Search.
Literacy’s initial investment in June 2018 was into Dartmouth Partners, a leading recruitment business in sectors including corporate finance, private equity, wealth management and legal. In September 2019, the business acquired Pure Search, giving the Group access to markets, such as Tax, Compliance and Finance, as well as new geographies.
Kernel has grown and developed strongly under Logan Naidu’s leadership. In a little over 4.5 years, the business has grown from 50 employees to almost 300 and now operates in five countries. We are pleased that we have been able to support the wishes of Kernel’s management team to realise some of their investment successfully. We wish Logan, Darren, and the rest of the team, the best for the future as they seek to continue growing the Group.
The performance of the Group is demonstrated by the strong investment return made by Literacy; a total return of 9.8x cost. Included within this, Literacy is pleased to retain a small stake and to extend its journey with Kernel, allowing the fund the opportunity to receive further upside in due course.
The transaction has exchanged, with completion and the receipt of cash expected before the end of March.