Advising shareholders on Chrysalis Loyalty sale

Lodders’ corporate and commercial team has advised the shareholders of West Midlands-based Chrysalis Loyalty on the company’s sale to an automotive software group backed by Inflexion Private Equity that includes automotive intelligence provider Autofutura.

The acquisition of Chrysalis Loyalty creates a combined offering of unrivalled innovative solutions for the global automotive industry, and broadens the commercial offer for global OEMs, fleet operators, financiers and retailers in the industry.

Advising Chrysalis’ shareholders on the company’s acquisition was a team from Lodders led by corporate and commercial partner Graham Spalding, with support from Leanne Lawrence and Hollie Smith, and Ian Yarde (property).

Fusion of expertise

Graham Spalding 

Commenting on the deal, Lodders’ Graham Spalding says: “The acquisition of Chrysalis Loyalty by the Inflexion-backed group creates a unique fusion of expertise forged into one focussed team. The deal involves the businesses consolidating the expertise and resources of two privately-owned companies to provide their clients with an even more diverse and robust suite of solutions and consultancy, focused around Lead Management, Customer Relations Management, Loyalty and Retention.”

He adds:

The deal represents another high-profile transaction for Lodders’ Corporate Group and we are delighted to have been able to help the shareholders on their sale.”

Vision and innovation

Chrysalis Loyalty CEO and Founder Jolyon Barker takes on the new role of Strategic Adviser in the new entity’s structure. He says: “At the dawn of Chrysalis in 2004, we defined a new approach to retention and loyalty technology, with the creation of our award winning Key2Key software platform and technology. Since then, Chrysalis has remained a leader in the Automotive Sales and Finance Retention and Renewal sector.

“Today, as unprecedented change faces the retail industry once again, our vision and innovation has prepared the company to ensure we deliver industry-best direct-to-consumer solutions, driven by robust data science and insight. This is why I am excited that Chrysalis and Autofutura have joined forces at this time of transformation for our industry.”

He adds: “We could not have achieved this fantastic outcome without the capable support of our advisers and legal team – most ably on legals by Graham and the team at Lodders, who went well beyond the normal call of duty and were quite literally available 24/7. This became an invaluable support as the deal progressed – both in terms of ‘getting the job done’ to strict timelines and also personal guidance in what is inevitably a complex journey to navigate.”

Trusted team

Tax advice was provided by Lisa Stevenson of Parisi Tax, and corporate finance advice by Pippa Hawkes at BSN Associates, who said: “It was great working with Lodders and Parisi Tax on the deal. Chrysalis is a client very close to our hearts having nurtured the business from start-up, so we wanted a trusted team around us to navigate some of the complex issues that arose throughout the deal. Having worked with Graham on a few deals now we could not recommend him and the team highly enough.”