Postal group secures £1.6m for expansion

Aug 13 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

AINTREE-BASED postal services firm Secured Mail has plans to expand after securing a £1.6m investment from Aquarius Equity Partners (AEP).

It uses a fleet of fully-tracked Mercedes Sprinter vans to deliver millions of items of post every month under licence from postal regulator POSTCOMM.

Secured Mail already has a broad range of household name clients and works closely with Royal Mail and international postal networks to gain a price advantage.

Mark Bigley, managing director of Secured Mail said: “We are delighted with this investment. It will provide the springboard for our growth and we are really looking forward to working with Aquarius to develop our service offering even further as a significant player in the postal market.”

Steve Sealey, of AEP, said: “Having met Secured Mail in March, we were immediately impressed with their management team.

“They are exactly what Aquarius looks for: committed managers with a well-thought-out business plan, looking for investment and hands-on assistance to take them to the next stage of their business model.”

Liverpool-based Vanguard Corporate Finance, who have been advisors to Secured Mail since the early days of the business, facilitated the introduction with AEP.

Last November, AEP established a £20m investment fund to support small firms in Merseyside and across the North West.

The Northern Entrepreneurs Fund was created to back innovative high-growth regional businesses.

Mr Sealey added: “This is our third investment from the Northern Entrepreneurs Fund and is an ideal investment for Aquarius in what has become a high growth, emerging market.

“As someone who was born and bred in Liverpool, and who still lives in the region, I am personally made up that I am finally able to do a deal in Liverpool.”

AEP is headed by paper tycoons Mr Sealey and Alan Murphy, who made their own fortunes by building up AM Paper, a company which supplied own brand toilet rolls to supermarket chains.

alex.turner