The dental care service market was worth £6.5 billion in 2015, of which £4.4 billion came from NHS dentistry and the remaining £2.1 billion from private dentistry. It is expected that the market will reach £7.5 billion by 2020, and most of the increase will be driven by private dentistry due to NHS cost-saving and related restriction of access.

Recognising the sector’s impressive growth potential, Universal Partners made a £15 million investment in Dentex Healthcare Group Limited in April 2017.

Dentex is a dental partnership group with a highly experienced management team. The company has a unique clinically led partnership model, which encourages clinical excellence profitability. Dentex has the capacity to roll out and support a substantial network of dental practices, and has strategically partnered with several leading dentists in order to invest in practices that deliver sustainable cash flow generation, predominantly in the growing private dental market.

While there are a number of dental corporates in the UK, they only account for approximately 10% of the total dental market. However, Dentex is the only corporate that truly partners with clinicians by keeping them invested in their business, and by providing them with the assistance to build their business and create wealth for themselves.

Universal Partners always looks to partner with experienced management and is excited to work with Dentex CEO, Barry Lanesman. Barry is a registered Dentist who built two medical finance businesses in Australia. One of these businesses became a full transactional banking operation with a unique value proposition, which was later acquired by Investec Bank and subsequently absorbed into the Bank of Queensland. Barry has recently recruited Brent Zurowski as the CFO of Dentex, who he worked with for twenty years in Australia building innovative, client centric businesses in the dental market.

Universal Partners’ initial £4 million secured a 36 per cent shareholding in Dentex, while an additional £11 million in convertible loan notes will enable it to increase its shareholding to 49 per cent. Universal Partners has invested equity alongside management and strategic partners to fund Dentex’s investment into further practices. Dentex’s management will own 18% of the ordinary equity post Universal Partners’ ordinary equity subscription.

Universal Partners’ investment in Dentex is in line with its strategy to invest in high potential businesses in the United Kingdom. Dentex’s business model demonstrates longterm growth potential in a growing sector.

David Vinokur and Justin Rodrigues from Universal Partners are members of the Dentex board.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, electric cars are likely to dominate the automotive market quicker than previously anticipated. Electric vehicles will make up 54% of all light-duty vehicle sales by 2040, up from the 35% share Bloomberg was forecasting previously.

France and the United Kingdom have announced their intention to end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as part of its ambitious plans to meet targets under the Paris Climate Accord. Sweden’s Volvo said it would only make fully electric or hybrid cars from 2019 onwards. Similar ambitious plans are underway in Norway (which has the highest penetration of electric cars in the world), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Further abroad, China and India have indicated that they too are scaling back the sale of petrol or diesel cars by 2030.

With its sights set on revolutionising electric motors, YASA has developed and commercialised a patented technology, enabling it to manufacture a range of electric motors, generators and controllers with superior performance characteristics. YASA’s motors and controllers are well suited to hybrid applications where limited space is available. In comparison to other technologies, the
YASA motors are smaller, lighter and easier to manufacture. They produce exceptionally high power and torque, as independently confirmed by a premier European automotive engineering consultancy.

YASA was spun out from research undertaken at Oxford University by YASA founder and Chief Technology Officer, Dr Tim Woolmer, and has commercialised its patented technology across a range of product areas over the last eight years. At the beginning of 2017, YASA opened its new production facility in Yarnton, Oxfordshire and has since looked to raise further funding to assist with the planned production scale-up for its growing customer base.

Further, YASA’s highly experienced management team and board of directors have extensive experience in building and managing companies in the automotive and industrial sectors.

The investment is in line with Universal Partners’ investment strategy to hold investments in innovative, high-quality growth businesses. Andrew Birrell will represent Universal Partners on the YASA board in the future.

SC Lowy is a high yield bond and distressed debt specialist. The firm facilitates primary issuance, secondary trading and investments with a primary focus on corporate bonds, loans, trade claims and special situations. SC Lowy’s in-house analysts cover the energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, telecommunications, media, metals, mining, financials, shipping and real estate sectors for issuers based in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The business is headquartered in Hong Kong, with a team of investment professionals based in London, Milan, Seoul and New York. SC Lowy has built a global client network of over 800 international and regional banks, asset managers, hedge funds, private equity and pension funds, family offices and corporations, who either hold or trade in these instruments.

SC Lowy is majority owned by the founders, Michel Löwy and Soo Cheon Lee. As an owner managed business, SC Lowy fits the Universal Partners investment profile of investing in owner managed businesses which require growth capital to deliver their strategy.

Michel Löwy and Soo Cheon Lee co-founded the business in 2009 and the company has delivered consistent growth in profitability over the last 8 years under their leadership. Michel and Soo Cheon are entrepreneurs with a proven track record of building and managing businesses in this space and have a long history of working together. Prior to founding SC Lowy, Michel led Deutsche Bank’s strategic investment group and built market-leading franchises in Asia, Japan and Latin America. Previously, he built Cargill’s Value Investment Group in Singapore and was an early investor in the Japanese Non Performing Loan (NPL) sector in the late 1990s. Soo Cheon was previously Managing Director and Head of in-house Research and Trading at Deutsche Bank’s Distressed Products Group in Asia Pacific, managing a diversified trading book, hard asset real estate holdings and significant distressed non-performing loan portfolios across Asia. Prior to his Deutsche Bank role, Soo Cheon was a senior research analyst at Cargill’s Value Investment Group, based in Singapore.

Universal Partners and the consortium will be represented on the SC Lowy Board of Directors by Gary Burg, the co-founder of Global Capital with Larry Nestadt. Andrew Birrell will be an alternate director to Gary Burg.

In total European toilets currently flush away 102 billion litres of clean, potable water every day, enough to drain Lake Geneva every
twenty hours. Depending on the style of toilet, the average flush uses between 8 and 12 litres per flush.

Previous efforts to reduce the amount of water used for toilet flushing have had performance and convenience implications and, in the main, received poor reviews from users. Recognising the need for an alternative solution, which uses less water and performs better, inspired the development of Propelair.

Entrepreneur Garry Moore launched the Propelair 1.5 litre flush toilet in 2011. Propelair is a high-performance toilet and water efficient solution that uses air to push waste, making it compatible with normal drain systems.

As well as saving water, it reduces the energy used in processing the waste and its sealed lid reduces the spread of airborne contaminants that may be released when flushing a regular toilet. Propelair’s powerful flush also eliminates blockages in areas of extreme high usage.

Propelair’s client list includes high-profile brands such as Network Rail, Thames Water and Barclays Bank.

Seeing the potential for Propelair to revolutionise sanitation, whilst positively addressing water challenges, Universal Partners invested £1m into the business in July 2017. This business is going to require expansion capital in the future, which will enable Universal Partners to increase the quantum and percentage shareholding of its investment. Universal Partners will work closely with management and strategic partner, Investec Bank, to deliver the business plan.

Universal Partners’ Andrew Birrell sits on the board of directors and has played an active role in the recruitment of a new chief executive who will work with the founder, Garry Moore, to take the business to the next level. Further Universal Partners will introduce the business to potential commercial customers through its extensive network and relationships.

Universal Partners’ investment in Propelair is in line with its investment strategy to invest in businesses that demonstrate a right to win, and where it can meaningfully participate in the formulation and execution of the business strategy going forward.