Houlihan Lokey Advises Nexus Vehicle Rental

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Nexus Vehicle Rental (Nexus), a leading B2B vehicle rental aggregator platform owned by Phoenix Equity Partners (Phoenix), has been acquired by middle-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone). Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Phoenix and the Nexus shareholders.

Leeds-based Nexus operates an asset-light business model, providing a broad range of corporate, credit hire, and leasing customers with access to the UK’s largest rental supply chain, with 550,000 vehicles across 2,000 locations through its proprietary IRIS tech platform. Since its inception 22 years ago, the company’s sustained growth has spurred it on to become one of the UK’s leading tech-driven business mobility providers, having reached more than 4 million rental bookings in 2022.

Since Phoenix Equity Partners invested in 2018, Nexus has experienced strong growth and demonstrated its resilient business model through the pandemic. Nexus has recently diversified into the plant hire and taxi market, as well as investing further in Nexus Connect, a unique mobile application that streamlines the rental process for end users whilst on the move. Nexus is also planning to launch several other product developments in 2023 to support the changing mobility requirements of its customer base.

David Brennan, Executive Chairman at Nexus Vehicle Rental, added: “Over the past four years, we have grown significantly. Phoenix has been a fantastic partner, helping us to meet our ambitions and supporting us through the pandemic. Equistone’s investment sets us up for our next exciting chapter of growth as one of the UK’s leading tech-driven mobility providers. Not only does it demonstrate confidence in the business, but it is a testament to the outstanding performance of our senior management and wider team.”

Tim Dunn, Partner at Phoenix, said: “We have backed a number of technology-driven platform businesses in recent years, and the Nexus story is emblematic of what we try to achieve with them. The business has gone from strength to strength, expanding its service offering, growing the senior executive team, winning new customers, and further developing its digital platform, IRIS. The Nexus team has been a joy to work with over the past four years and we know that David, John, and all their colleagues will continue to prosper with their new partner, Equistone. We wish them all the best for the future.”

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive M&A and capital markets advisor to Phoenix and the Nexus shareholders in a deal that exemplifies the continued success of Houlihan Lokey’s dedicated global coverage of the tech-enabled services sector.