7246718d

My Life Choice sold to Optimo

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 09:00:03 GMT

My Life Choice sold to Optimo Care Group to expand into complex care

Optimo Care Group (“Optimo”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of My Life Choice Limited (“MLC” or “the Company”).

Based in Colchester, My Life Choice is a complex care provider which was established in 2018 by Jane Lever-Byford and Stephanie Issacson who have established a leading and innovative complex care service.

Operating across the UK, MLC provides a range of care services specialising in supporting younger adults with autism and complex care needs. MLC currently employs in the region of 55 staff, all of whom will remain with the business with plans established to further increase the size of the team through further expansion of its services.

Optimo Care Group was co-founded by Mark Hales and Richard Walker in 2010 with a single vision in mind – to “create a service to be proud of” through high quality, progressive and well reputed care services, initially across the North of England but now extending services across the UK. Optimo aim to provide person centred care and support in ways which have positive outcomes for their clients.

The Group consists of a number of subsidiaries, and delivers over 16,500 hours of care per week, employing over 850 people, operating across the North of England. This acquisition follows on from the recent acquisition of Mayday Homecare in Bolton and Safe Hands Support a little over two months ago.

Optimo provides wide ranging care and support for several thousand individuals every day. The expansion of their complex care and supported living services is a key objective for 2023 and My Life Choice furthers the Group’s geographical range and also the breadth of its service portfolio across the UK.

Optimo was advised by: Oxygen Enterprise Partners (M&A), Freeths LLP (Legal). Optimo team: Mark Hales, Richard Walker, Ceri Bate, Ben Hales.

My Life Choice were advised by Setfords Solicitors (Legal) and Redwoods Dowling Kerr (M&A)

Ben Hales, Head of M&A for Optimo Care Group, commented: “I am delighted to announce My Life Choice as the latest addition to the Group. Optimo has significant experience of delivering complex services and acquiring My Life Choice allows us to offer our complex supported living division across a full UK footprint” Ben continued, “I would like to say thank you to both Jane and Stephanie for their inspiring work over the last few years. I would also like to thank Nathan Miller at Redwoods for his continued support and yet again playing an instrumental role in putting this together.”

Richard Walker, Chief Executive at Optimo Care Group commented: “I am delighted to welcome My Life Choice into the Optimo family. The team are skilled and passionate about great care and we share those values. With our long standing experience and scale, My Life Choice will be supported to reach its potential as a leading provider of very complex supported living and we look forward to working with and growing the team into the future”

Optimo buys Safehands

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 07:40:14 GMT

Optimo buys Safehands marking its second acquisition in a month

Home care services provider Optimo Care Group has bought Safehands Support Services, a domiciliary care provider based in Oldham, HealthInvestor can reveal. The transaction follows Optimo’s acquisition of Mayday Homecare in Bolton a little over two weeks ago.

Safehands, established in 2011 by Caroline Simms, provides a range of care services specialising in domiciliary care, currently delivering around 1,500 care hours per week to around 150 clients. It employs around 75 staff.

Founded in 2010 by Mark Hales and Richard Walker, the Oxygen Enterprise Partners-backed Optimo consists of seven subsidiary companies: TLC Homecare, Choices Homecare, Warrencare, Town & Local Care, Care with Choices, Mayday Homecare and now Safehands. Optimo delivers over 14,500 hours of care per week to service users across the North of England, employing more than 800 people.

Optimo generated revenue of around £12.4 million and EBITDA of £1.1 million in the year ended 31 July 2021, according to its most recent filed accounts.

The value of the deal remains undisclosed. As reported by HealthInvestor, the Mayday deal added around 40% to the company’s revenues. The group anticipates that this acquisition will add a further 15% moving forwards, this publication is told.

Commenting on Optimo’s pipeline of acquisitions, Ben Hales, head of M&A at Optimo, told HealthInvestor: “We hope to complete two more acquisitions before the end of the calendar year, and anticipate a further two in the first quarter of 2023.”

He added: “We are really pleased to have completed this deal and for Safehands to become the latest addition to the Optimo Family. This has been a great deal for all involved and I would like to say thank you to Caroline for all her work over the last 11 years.

“This deal compliments our acquisition strategy, acquiring another strong homecare business which furthers the breadth of our offering in the market and further cementing Optimo as one of the region’s leading community care providers.”

Richard Walker, chief executive at Optimo, said: “I am delighted to welcome Safehands into the Optimo family and we look forward to working with the Safehands team into the future”

Safehands staff and management will remain with the business. Optimo has plans to further increase the size of the team through further expansion of its services.

Optimo was advised by Oxygen Enterprise Partners (M&A), Freeths LLP (Legal), and TC Murray Harcourt Limited (Financial). Safehands were advised by Setfords Solicitors (Legal).

Optimo buys Mayday Homecare

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 07:28:06 GMT

Optimo Care Group acquires Mayday Homecare to continue expansion in the UK Home Care market

Home care services provider Optimo Care Group has bought Keymen Associates also known as Mayday Homecare, HealthInvestor can reveal. The acquisition is part of Optimo’s strategy to acquire community care businesses across all the segments of home care.

Founded in 2010, the Oxygen Enterprise Partners-backed Optimo consists of six subsidiary companies: TLC Homecare, Choices Homecare, Warrencare, Town & Local Care, Care with Choices and now Mayday Homecare. Optimo delivers over 12,500 hours of care per week to service users across the North of England, employing over 800 people.

This is Optimo's first acquisition following a four-year gap since the Choices Home Care deal in August 2018.

Optimo generated revenue of around £12.4 million and EBITDA of £1.1 million in the year ended 31 July 2021, according to its latest Companies House filing.

The value of the deal was undisclosed, but the company estimates to see growth in turnover in the region of 40% as a result of the acquisition, this publication is told.

Mayday Homecare, established in 1997, operates across the Bolton and Bury areas. Mayday specialises in domiciliary care, currently delivering more than 4,000 care hours per week to around 500 clients and employs around 160 staff.

Ben Hales, head of M&A at Optimo tells HealthInvestor: “We aim to add our financial and technical resources to these businesses to help continue their growth into the future. This acquisition furthers the breadth of our offering in the home care market and cements Optimo as one of the regions leading community care providers.

"Optimo is focussed on delivering high-quality care that is person-centered, delivered by a well-trained and motivated workforce. We have an acquisition plan for the group with funding available to help support our growth targets in place.”

Richard Walker, chief executive at Optimo commented: “We are pleased to welcome Mayday to the Optimo family. This partnership is the culmination of months of hard work and is a great example of Optimo’s pro-active, market-led approach to acquisition. We look forward to working with the Mayday team into the future and continuing the growth and development built upon over the last 20 years.”

There will be no changes in Mayday's current management structure.

Optimo was advised by Oxygen Enterprise Partners (M&A) and Freeths (Legal). Accountancy firm Crowe UK advised on the Financial Due Diligence. Mayday was advised by GHW Solicitors (Legal).

Smrtlinks signs deal for innovative Covid testing and monitoring solution

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 12:28:48 GMT

Advantia and SmrtLinks announce COVID-19 testing solution

A Birmingham-based software developer is launching a partnership with a dealer group to offer its unique testing and monitoring solution for businesses carrying out COVID-19 testing to workforces.

Smrtlinks is partnering with Nuneaton-based buying consortium Advantia Business Solutions to offer businesses the opportunity to access the SMRT:Testing service, designed to add a layer of safety assurance for workforces that are either still working as normal or are set to return in the near future, through intelligent tracking of testing.

The SMRT:Testing service supplies businesses with Government and Public Health England approved Rapid Flow Covid-19 tests.

This is complimented by a bespoke software solution which tracks and monitors workforce testing on a daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.

The tests have a sensitivity of 95%, specificity of 100%, and overall accuracy of 98.6%.

Advantia has more than 30 dealers around the UK, working with approximately 20,000 businesses and around one million individual users.

Advantia’s regional representatives will work with local businesses to offer the intelligent solution in a bid to help employers work with employees to arrange a safe return to work.

Mark Hales, managing director of Smrtlinks, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to provide staff across the UK with reassurance that their place of work is as safe as it can be when they do return, or if they are currently working as normal."

“Testing is so crucial in allowing jobs across the UK to be preserved and we have seen a huge response from businesses since launching Smrt:Testing.

“Our solution consists of testing kits complimented by an easy to use, reliable app solution that allows employers and employees to keep track of compliance and outcomes in real time. “The quality and efficiency of the testing kits we are providing is something we are incredibly proud of and something we see as absolutely essential in providing the necessary level of assurance. For this system to work, high quality, mass testing needs to be available and that is what we are offering.”

The Smrt:Testing technology allows users to book testing time slots and upload test results via a secure web-based portal-.

It also sends automated reminders to employees who fail to attend their test or to submit results and notifies designated members of staff of positive results immediately upon receipt.

Steve Carter, managing director at Advantia, said: “We are an innovative group that is never frightened to break the mould, so this forward-thinking solution was particularly attractive to us.

“If we can do something to help the country get back to work, that really excites me.”

Vidsy closes Series B fundraising to drive American expansion

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 12:23:24 GMT

Vidsy, a video advertising production platform and global creator network, has closed its latest round of funding, securing $16.5m of investment led by Access Entertainment alongside existing investors, Delin Ventures and GMG Ventures LP.

The technology platform, which was founded in 2014, connects the world’s Fortune 500 companies with content creators to produce video and digital content at scale, helping brands connect more dynamically with their consumers. The capital raised during this round will enable Vidsy to accelerate transatlantic market expansion and further develop the Vidsy platform and services for both brands and creators.

“Our model has introduced a new way to create highly effective video advertising for brands while also powering a sustainable creator economy. The rapid growth we have seen in ecommerce in the last 12 months has increased demand from global businesses exponentially as they look to connect with customers in an increasingly online world. With the backing of Access Entertainment and our existing investors, we can now capitalise on the magnitude of the opportunity in front of us,” explained Gerard Keeley, CEO and Co-Founder of Vidsy.

Alongside the funding, Vidsy welcomes Access Entertainment President, Danny Cohen, to its Board.

He comments: “The digital advertising market is growing at extraordinary speed and brands need a dynamic, creative and cost-efficient solution in order to reach consumers most effectively. Vidsy delivers this, combining premium creative standards with deep understanding of the digital landscape and a cutting-edge technology platform. It is not surprising that the Vidsy platform has become highly sought after across the world and we believe that the company will continue to grow at a rapid pace. I’m looking forward to joining the Board at this exciting time for the business and working with the visionary team at Vidsy.”

Vidsy’s existing investors GMG Ventures LP and Delin Ventures also followed on from their previous investments in this new round of funding. Alan Hudson, General Partner, GMG Ventures LP noted on the fundraise: “Vidsy offers a unique solution that solves key challenges faced by brands while benefiting from the tailwinds of the creator economy. It is well positioned to capitalise on the rapid acceleration of video advertising across digital and e-commerce and we are delighted to be continuing to work
with the team on its new phase of expansion.”

Christopher Spray, who leads the investment for Delin Ventures added: ‘Delin has supported Vidsy since its very early days when we spotted its potential to disrupt the video advertising industry bringing creatives closer to clients at a time when agility and distinctiveness matter more than ever before. We are delighted to continue to back Vidsy’s founders through this new round of investment to deliver scale as they capitalise on the next wave of international market opportunity and growth.’