All Systems Go For Livingstone IT Team

October 2005

Livingstone delivers a great deal for Lloyds Development Capital (“LDC”) and the other shareholders as two of the country’s leading providers of retail estate management software solutions merge.

The ECS Group, the company that has been developing solutions for the property industry for over 25 years, has acquired Fraser Williams Commercial Systems (“FWCS”), including their North American subsidiary, Fraser Williams Americas, to create one of the largest global suppliers of property systems and related services. ECS and FWCS have both realised great corporate successes over the past 25 years and have been at the vanguard in developing the property software industry.

The shareholders of FWCS, were advised throughout the sale process by Livingstone, whose partner Gordon Blair, says: “We approached a number of potential purchasers and received keen interest from international players but ECS demonstrated that an acquisition by them would represent an excellent strategic fit.”

The combination of ECS and FWCS, brings together the property software industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of applications, technologies and expertise which enables customers to deploy innovative property and portfolio management solutions effectively.

“We feel that ECS and Fraser Williams Commercial Systems are a logical fit, both in terms of products and customers” comments John Cuppello, Managing Director of ECS. “We are grateful that Livingstone handled the whole process very professionally and their voice of reason helped bring the deal to fruition.”

Andrew McMurray of LDC went further. He said “After a troubled start to our investment in 2001 we are delighted by the sale of the business and the significant returns generated. A large part of this is down to the key role Livingstone Guarantee played during the sale process and pivotal negotiations. He was particularly appreciative of the manner in which they engineered the auction process which involved a competitor that was hardly any bigger than the target business.

He went on to say: “I am convinced that without Gordon Blair and Tom Phipps, we would not have achieved such a stunning result. Their tenacity and attention to detail made it all happen.”

Gordon Blair, partner
Tel: 020 7484 4705
email: gblair@livingstonepartners.co.uk

Tom Phipps, deal leader
Tel: 020 7484 4717
email: tphipps@livingstonepartners.co.uk