A Cheshire-based business which provides software to high-profile restaurant chains and was founded by the husband and wife team who established brands such as Est Est Est and Piccolino has been snapped up by a New York private equity firm.
ECI Partners has agreed to sell Fourth Hospitality to Insight Venture Partners, with the transaction set to complete next month (July).
ECI has majority-owned Forth, which was founded in 1999 by the late Edwina Lilley and her husband Derek, since 2011 when it acquired the business for a reported £50m. Before setting up Forth, the Lilleys had built up restaurant chains including Est Est Est and Piccolino.
Fourth works with more than 1,100 companies across the leisure and hospitality sectors, including high-profile brands such as Center Parcs, Fuller's, Hilton, Hyatt, Pizza Express, Soho House and Wagamama. Its real-time software is designed to help restaurants, pubs and hotel groups manage their key costs, labour, stock and purchases more efficiently.
As part of the deal, the existing management team led by long-serving chief executive Ben Hood will remain at the helm to oversee the next phase in the development of the company.
Hood said: "It has been a very exciting stage of the Fourth journey with ECI supporting the team and its vision. We look forward to an exciting future given Insight Venture Partner's international software growth expertise.
"We could not be happier to partner with Insight and we are confident in their support of Fourth in our next stage of growth."
Ross Devor, principal of Insight Venture Partners, said: "Fourth is on a remarkable growth trajectory, delivering market-leading SaaS (software as a service) solutions focused on the hospitality industry's most important cost drivers. We believe Fourth has an enormous opportunity ahead and we are excited to support the company's vision to build a leading global business."
David Ewing, managing partner of ECI Partners, said: "Fourth is another UK success story. It has been a pleasure working alongside Ben and the team to help Fourth become a world leader in their sector.
"Derek, Edwina and Ben were looking for a partner who would support the internationalisation of their business and ECI are delighted to have been a part of that journey."
Headquartered in London, Fourth's payroll office is based in Macclesfield. Jefferies International acted as sole financial adviser to Fourth and ECI Partners.