Lyco Group

finnCap Cavendish, part of finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of Lyco Group, one of the UK’s leading online distributors of lighting products.

Lyco Group has been acquired by efectoLED, the leading online lighting distributor in Southern Europe and a portfolio company of Miura Partners. The acquisition will boost efectoLED’s plans to expand across Europe as the firm expects to open a new warehouse in northern France as part of its aim to reach a €100 million turnover..

This is the latest in a number of recent cross-border transactions on which finnCap Cavendish has advised and demonstrates its expertise in the sale of e-commerce businesses. This transaction follows on recent deals including London & Capital, TicTrac and The Floow.

With this transaction, efectoLED positions itself as a leader in the UK online lighting sector and consolidates its position in Europe, where it is already the market leader in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France. The deal also marks international growth potential for Lyco Group, based in Milton Keynes, as it makes its first footprint in Europe.

The deal is a major milestone for efectoLED as it continues its strong growth trajectory. Since 2016 efectoLED has grown at double-digit annual sales of 20%. The company currently operates in 12 markets under Ledkia brand outside Iberia. In addition, since Miura Partners’ investment, efectoLED has invested around €5 million to reinforce its structure − doubling its team to 240 employees, opening new offices, and increasing its warehouse capacity to 17,000 m2.

For Lyco Group, a specialist in the distribution of decorative and technical lighting through its well-known and established online and offline channels, the deal will enable the group to expand on its experience in the development of lighting projects in the hospitality, healthcare, and education sectors, among others. The management team will remain involved in the project to lead the consolidation of the group in the UK.

The deal was led by Joe Stelzer at finnCap Cavendish.

Joe Stelzer at finnCap Cavendish, commented:

“efectoLED is a business which thanks to its innovative offering, is fast dominating the market. This deal is the perfect moment for efectoLED to take its successful business model to another level, and for Lyco Group to capitalise on significant global market opportunities during the coming years. We were delighted to be the financial advisers on this exciting acquisition story which has a compelling growth forecast.”

Paco Mas, CEO at efectoLED added:

“Lyco Group has a team of professionals with a long history in the UK online market, a notorious branding of its web platforms and a product catalog of both well-known brands and own brands. Our successful model of professional customer acquisition and recurrence will allow us to become the clear leader in the online distribution of lighting solutions in the UK, both in the decorative and technical segment. Thanks to Lyco’s management support we will achieve a rapid integration and implementation of the identified synergies.”

According to Jordi Alegre, Managing Partner at Miura Partners:

“efectoLED is taking firm steps to become the European leader in on-line lighting and has already a solid base to tackle its future international expansion plan. The acquisition of Lyco, the upcoming logistics center in northern France and the structural foundations in team, systems and logistics capacity, will allow the company to continue growing at double digit with high profitability levels as it has been doing in recent years.”