Houlihan Lokey Advises Bionic

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Bionic, a portfolio company of ECI, has been acquired by OMERS Private Equity (OMERS). The transaction closed on 16 February 2023.

Bionic is the smart way for Britain’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to sort their business essentials by providing a marketplace for energy, connectivity, and insurance and financial products and services. Their tech-enabled experts make life easier for small business owners, saving them time and money.

The investment by OMERS will enable Bionic to further support the underserved SME market, with a total addressable market of approximately £3 billion in the UK alone. Bionic successfully made six acquisitions during ECI’s investment and it will continue to deliver on this buy-and-build strategy with OMERS to further expand its capability and offering to customers.

ECI partnered with Bionic in 2017 when it was called Make It Cheaper. Since then, the business has significantly transformed; rebranding to Bionic, building out product offerings, increasing routes to market, and investing in market-leading digital propositions and technology. The team has also continued to build on its fantastic employee experience, with Bionic ranking seventh in The Sunday Times' 100 Best Companies to Work For 2020 list. The transaction generates a money multiple return of 4.8x for ECI.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Bionic and assisted in initiating, marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction. This deal highlights Houlihan Lokey's long-standing reputation as a leading advisor to marketplace-based businesses across a number of industry verticals, particularly those differentiated by technology and data.