Bob Ellis – Curriculum Vitae
Current Roles
October 2015 onwards
Appointed to the Board of Stemcor as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Risk Committee. The business, which trades steel products globally, emerged from a restructuring in late October 2015 and is controlled by Apollo. The INED role is part of a complex governance structure and the appointment was made by the senior lenders to the original Stemcor Group. The role is focused on supporting the executive management team to develop the business, prepare the business for sale whilst ensuring equity risk is minimized and the governance structure is effective.
Sector: Commodities – Owner Type: Private Equity/Lenders
February 2015 onwards
Appointed to the Board of Whittan Group as Chairman of the Board, Remuneration and Audit Committee’s at the request of the private equity sponsor. The business is a European manufacturer of industrial storage solutions (racking, shelving and lockers). The role is focused on working with the incumbent management and the sponsor to drive revenue growth and margin improvement in the core business whilst looking for acquisition opportunities to build the business in Europe.
Sector: Manufacturing– Owner Type: Private Equity
August 2014 onwards
Appointed as an Independent Director and Chairman of the Board to the Board of FiveTen Group at the request of the private equity sponsor. The business is an international recruitment solutions service provider specializing in finance, legal, marketing and IT solutions. The role was focused on providing a stable financing platform for the sponsor to explore a range of strategic options.The first phase involved stabilizing the financial structure, recruiting a new CEO and Chairman and stepping back to a director/advisory role and chairing the Audit and Remuneration Committee’s. The second phase has involved a longer term restructuring of the group through selling a key overseas subsidiary, rationalizing the international structure and replacing the residual financing with new asset backed lending. The third phase will involve working with the new management team to drive revenue growth, improve net margins and prepare the business for exit.
Sector: Business Services – Owner Type: Private Equity
October 2012 onwards
Appointed initially as an Independent Director, and now Chairman of the Board, Audit and Remuneration committee’s, of Danwood, the UK’s largest provider of print and documentation services. The Company had a number of accounting related issues that led to its 2011 accounts being qualified and subsequent breaches of its banking facilities. The management team has been significantly strengthened and changes made to key controls and reporting processes. A more detailed business planning exercise has developed a revised business strategy and as Chairman I am overseeing its implementation.
Sector: Business Process Outsourcing – Owner Type: Private Equity
September 2010 onwards
Appointed as an Independent Director,and Chairmanof the Audit and Remuneration Committees, of the holding companies of KCA Deutag a major provider of services to the upstream oil and gas market. The Company needed to amend its capital structure. Following a sales process a consensual agreement was reached with one of its existing sponsors, senior debt providers and mezzanine holders that saw $550m of new capital raised from Pamplona and the mezzanine holders and the subsequent restructuring of around $2billion of existing debt. Following the balance sheet restructuring theongoing role was to work with the management team and shareholders to assist in the operational restructuring of the business, review development opportunities and work toward a potential exit of the business. The business was refinanced again early in 2014, taking advantage of the US bond markets, and now has a ‘normal’ capital structure for a business of its size and complexity. Following the recent fall in the oil price I have also been appointed Chairman of the Board by the shareholders and the current focus is on helping the management with cash conservation and cost reduction measures and reviewing the structure of the business for a lower oil price environment.
Sector: Oil& Gas – Owner Type: Private Equity
August 2009 – onwards
Appointed initially as the Investment Director, and Chairman of the Audit Committee, on behalf of a lender shareholders, of the holding company for IdealStelrad, a European manufacturer of gas boilers and radiators which was over leveraged. The Company finalized a debt to equity conversion, which led to a consortium of lenders taking full controlfrom the previous private equity owners. The management team introduced a new leading edge product and positioned the business for an upturn in the market as the economy recovered. The business was sold to a private equity buyer for a premium above the book value of the original senior debt in September 2013. Following the disposal I joined the board of the new holding company as Chairmanof the Board and Audit and Remuneration Committee’s and worked with the Company on a new strategy to split the business into two divisions. In January 2015 the largest division was sold to a private family buyer and the focus is now on implementing a new commercial and operational structure for the remaining division.
Sector: Home Improvements/Construction – Owner Type: Private Equity
Previous Roles
November 2013 – October 2015
Appointed to the Board of MDNX/EasyNet, and chairman of the Audit Committee, following the acquisition of both companies by a private equity buyer. The new business combination delivered network, cloud, applications management and hosting services to public and private sector customers across Europe. The role was focused on helping the management team integrate the two businesses and then prepare the business for exit. Having achieved the integration benefits the business was acquired by Interoute in October 2015.
Sector: Telecoms’ – Owner Type: Private Equity
June 2013 - March 2014
Appointed as Independent Director to Guardian/Airwave, whodesigned, built and operated the largest public safety radio communications network in the world. The Company was going through a complex debt restructuring process, with around £2b of debt and hedges, and the private stakeholdersand lenders agreed that the need for an Independent Director at both the OpCo and DebtCo level. The debt was successfully restructured in March 2014.
Sector: Telecomm Outsourcing – Owner Type: Private Equity
May 2012 – January 2014
Appointed initially as an Independent Director of the Marken Group the global provider of specialist logistics to the pharmaceutical industry. The Company needed to amend its capital structure and the Board managing the process needed to be strengthened. Following a strategic review the business was sold at the end of 2012 to the existing lenders through a pre-packaged administration. Following the discovery of some significant account issues in the business I was appointed interim Chairman, and chaired the Audit Committee, of the new Holding Company through 2013. The issues were resolved in late 2013 and a new sector focused Board recruited and I stepped down as interim Chairman.
Sector: Health/Logistics – Owner Type: Lenders
July 2008 – February 2014
Appointed as an Independent Director andChairman of the Board, Audit Committee and Remuneration Committee of the holding company of 20:20 Mobile Group as one of two lender investor directors nominated by a syndicate of lenders. The company had underperformed and had agreed a partial debt to equity conversion whereby a syndicate of senior lenders has taken new equity in the business alongside the original equity investors. The business was repositioned in key geographies to increase the distribution volume and increase the range of value added services to take advantage of scale economies in the industry. The business was sold in early 2014 to a US trade buyer.
Sector: Distribution – Owner Type: Lenders/Private Equity
May 2011 – July 2012
Appointed as an Independent Director and Chairman of the Board, Audit and Remuneration Committee’s by the lender of Integrated Subsea Services a specialist provider of diving and ROV services. The Company had recently amended its capital structure with LBG partially converting debt into equity style instruments. The business then had a stable financial platform from which to grow its presence in key deep-sea drilling areas such as South East Asia, Australasia and Brazil. Following an unsolicited offer the business was sold to Oaktree Capital in July 2012 repaying all of the debt and providing a substantial equity return.
Sector: Oil& Gas – Owner Type: Management/Lenders
November 2011 – January 2012
Appointed as Board Restructuring Advisor to the Peacock Group, which is a large UK based value fashion retailer. The Company needed to implement a comprehensive operational and financial restructuring. Following extensive review, analysis, running a sales process and looking at a variety of financial restructuring options it was not possible to reach a consensual solution with the various stakeholders and the business entered administration.
Sector: Retail – Owner Type: PE/Hedge Fund
June 2010 – July 2011
Appointed initially as Board Restructuring Advisor, and subsequently as an Independent Director and Chairman of the Board following an amendment to its facilities agreement, to ISoft Group Ltd an Australian plc. that provides information systems to the global healthcare sector. The Company needed to increase its existing funding lines, reduce the cost base of certain divisions and sell non-core assets in order to fundamentally amend its capital structure and ongoing profitability. Following an exercise to stabilize its capital structure (led by Barclays),and by working with the existing majority equity holder and provider of subordinated debt, the business was soldto a large US based systems integrator recovering all of the senior and subordinated debt and a return for the equity holders.
Sector: Health IT – Owner Type: Publically listed
July 2009 – July 2013
Appointed as an Independent Director, and chairman of the Audit Committee by the lenders of West Ham Football Club. The Club had been impacted by the previous owners bankruptcy as a result of the Icelandic Banking Crisis. The Club was controlled by a group of the previous owner’s Icelandic bank creditors, some of whom themselves were in an Icelandic restructuring process. The aim was to stabilize the main operating company and position the business to allow the Icelandic bank creditors to sell down their equity interest in stages. When the agreement to lease the Olympic Stadium agreement was reached the bank creditors sold down their equity interests to a 10% holding level and the need to continue as a Director ended.
Sector: Leisure – Owner Type: Private Individuals/Lenders
December 2009 – March 2010
Appointed initially as Board Advisor and subsequently asan Independent Director and Chairman of the Board Audit and Remuneration Committee’s, to Ramesys Holdings Limited, a leading provider of ICT services to the education sector in the UK. The company, which was financed by LDC/LBG, had been very successful in winning long-term installation, educational transformation and managed service contracts as part of the Building Schools for the Future program but had struggled to cope with the implementation and cash flow issues associated with those contracts. Following stabilization of the capital structure through the negotiation of a new financing facility with LBG the business was sold in March 2010.
Sector: Business Process Outsourcing – Owner Type: PE/Lenders
October 2008 - March 2009
Appointed initially as Chief Restructuring Advisorand subsequently as an Independent Director of Chairman of the Board of Sovereign Oilfield Group plc at the request of LBG. The Company had underperformed, leading to breeches of covenants and a suspension of its shares. An additional short-term working capital facility was agreed with its mezzanine debt holders, and a proposal to refinance the senior debt, sell non-core businesses, and restructure existing core businesses was proposed to the syndicate of lenders. Following a disagreement with the majority shareholders I left the Board. The business appointed administrators shortly threafter.
Sector: Oilfield Services – Owner Type: Public listed
August 2008 – September 2013
Appointed as an Independent Director andChairman of the Board, Audit and Remuneration Committee’s of the holding company of the Anglian Home Improvements Group. The Company finalized a debt to equity conversion, which led to a consortium of banks (Barclays/RBS/LBG) taking majority control with Alchemy retaining some stub equity. A restructuring program reduced the operational gearing and positioned the business for an upturn in the market as the economy recovers.Following changes in the debt and equity ownership I stood down as Chairman.
Sector: Home Improvements – Owner Type: Lenders
March 2008 – September 2013
Appointed as an Independent Directorand Chairman of the Board, Audit and Remuneration Committee’s of the holding company of the Metal & Waste Group which was owned by Equistone with debt finance provided by RBS/LBG/Barclays. The role was to assist the executive management to focus on a series of market and operational initiatives to increase the rate of profit growth. Following the cyclical reduction in scrap metal prices the business undertook a debt to equity restructuring, which led to a financial institution taking control and my assisting them with putting in place a new Board.
Sector: Scrap Metal – Owner Type: Private Equity
November 2007 – January 2013
Appointed as a Independent Director and Chairman of the Board, Audit and Remuneration committee’s of the holding company of the Alan Dick Group, an international communications design and build business, by LBG. The Group had significant indebtedness and was trading unprofitable. The Group was initially refinanced with LBG providing additional revolving facilities and a restructuring facility. A restructuring program was implemented leading to a smaller number of business units, margins were improved across all business units and the divisional costs were significantly cut. The business has been sold in parts over the past two years and the residual entities have been put into administration.
Sector: Specialist Design and Build – Owner Type: Lenders
November 2007 – April 2008
Appointed at the request of the Barclays as Chief Restructuring Advisor to API Group plc. API was in default of its borrowing covenants, and based upon its trailing profitability was highly leveraged, and needed refinancing. The lenders were not confident that the Board had the requisite experience to manage the refinancing whilst improving the operational performance of the business, and insisted as a condition of the refinancing on the appointment of a CRA. Working with the existing stakeholders a complex refinancing was planned and new funding was secured early in 2008. The refinancing consisted of a placing and open offer (underwritten by two US hedge funds), bridge finance and renewed UK facilities. A further de-gearing programme was also planned in detail and was subsequently implemented (surplus asset disposals in China and sale and leaseback in the USA) to provide sufficient headroom to invest in operational improvements (cost reduction and selected investment in new capacity).
Sector: Packaging– Owner Type: Public Equity
July 2006 – March 2010
Appointed as an Independent Director and Chairman of the Board, Audit and Remuneration committee’s of the holding company of the Metzeler Group with the joint agreement of CVC and a small group of Lenders (RBS, Barclays, IKB, KBC). Metzeler was a LBO by CVC of the largest automotive sealing business in the world, which had failed to deliver the operational benefits that were planned at the time of the acquisition. A strategy was developed and approved by the lenders to attempt to recover value through a solvent liquidation of the Group. All of the parts of the group that had significant value (Germany, Italy, Poland, China, India, Belgium, USA, Canada, Mexico) were sold in separate transactions to strategic and private equity buyers. Two operations (in France and Spain) required significant restructuring to reduce their operational costs by shifting low added value activities to low cost countries. In order to achieve this, whilst not subtracting value from the good parts of the group, these operations were legally separated from the rest of the group to avoid any ‘value drag’. Local reorganizations were negotiated with unions, customers and suppliers. In France the customers were persuaded to finance the restructuring through agreeing to increase prices. In Spain the restructuring was refinanced by asset disposals and new asset backed lending. Both businesses were then sold on a deferred payment basis. In the UK a significant defined benefit pension liability was transferred to the PPF, and the operational business restructured and then sold. The majority of the original indebtedness was returned to the lenders and the residual group activities are now being solvently wound up.
Sector: Automotive Components – Owner Type: Private Equity
March 2006 – July 2006
Worked as an advisor to three private equity firms based in the UK on possible turnaround acquisitions.