A £150 million investment in fuel card company Radius Payments Solutions has been agreed by Inflexion, valuing the company at £800m.

Radius was founded in 1990 by CEO Bill Holmes (pictured) who still leads the business today and remains the largest shareholder.

Headquartered in Crewe, Radius has grown rapidly since its inception, through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth, with more than 30 acquisitions completed to date. It now has more than 1,000 employees with operations that span 14 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Radius primarily serves the SME market and has over 200,000 customers.

Radius acts as the key intermediary and service provider between major energy companies, energy retail networks and their SME customers.

Radius has expanded beyond its core fleet card products to become a major provider of MasterCard payment solutions. It has also successfully entered the fast growth telematics market and now offers insurance products to its growing customer base.

In addition, the business is further developing its product offering as vehicle technologies evolve. At the forefront of its industry’s digital innovation, Radius operates a proprietary customer-focused portal and reporting platform known as Velocity.

Holmes said: “We’ve achieved rapid growth of customer numbers and revenue over the last few years through to the development of innovative new products and services, acquisitions and through expansion into new countries and markets.

“We’ve been exploring ways in which we can achieve the next stage of our growth and believe Inflexion Partnership Capital has the right culture, expertise and support to grow the business further with its exciting overseas network.”     

David Whileman, head of Partnership Capital at Inflexion, said: “We knew Bill and his team considered many investment options and we are thrilled that they chose Inflexion Partnership Capital as their future partner.

“Radius is a high growth business with substantial international operations; this investment clearly demonstrates the entrepreneurial demand for a true minority investor. We look forward to supporting the company’s ambitious growth strategy.”

The Inflexion deal team comprised of David Whileman, Josh Kaufman, Edward Lynch and Nick Rosenberg.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete in early 2018. 

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