Coniston Capital has backed the Management Buy Out of CRC Group, a data led B2B consultancy. This investment is the third from Coniston Capital I LP which had its final close in March 2022. Coniston invested in Masterfix in September 2021 and Harvey Jones in May 2022.
Through CRC Group’s core product, The Referral Rating, the business allows its clients to track and improve their customer relationships, helping to reduce churn and increase opportunities for growth.
Founded in 2004, and now headed by Group CEO Phil Reilly, CRC Group has operations in the US and UK. The business has a strong presence in the advertising agency market and the B2B packaging and wider manufacturing markets and has longstanding relationships with blue-chip clients.
As part of the transaction, Coniston introduced Chris Jones as CFO. Calum Smeaton will also join as Chairman following the sale of TVSquared to Innovid, where he was founder and CEO.
George Tsangarides, who led the transaction for Coniston and will join the board of CRC Group, said: “Phil and the management team have built an exciting business. Regarded as an expert in its fields, CRC Group has created an invaluable customer offering. Coniston was impressed by their knowledge and ambition to expand into new verticals and we are delighted to be a part of the next stage in this growth journey.”
Phil Reilly added: “We were struck by The Coniston team’s high level of engagement and understanding of our business. Their expertise, support and equity will provide us with the opportunities to deliver on our vision.”
Coniston was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Richard Coleman, Rajiv Kakkad, Amir Kursun, Gary McArthur), PMSI Strategy (Aditi Talwar, Hector Cox), Finerva (Adam Brodie, Myles Treharne) and BlairWest (David Blair, Chris Marshall). CRC Group was advised by Moore Kingston Smith (John Cowie, Paul Winterflood) and Osborne Clarke (Tim Birt, Leanne Wright, Ben Parker).
