Shift: The Yodel deal orchestrator backed by Sir Andy Murray and the Duke of Norfolk
After months of uncertainty and its future hanging in the balance, delivery group Yodel has new owners.
A consortium led by the fast-growing Shift, dubbed the ‘Uber for removals’, and investment bank Solano Partners has taken control of the brand by acquiring new company YDLGP Limited for an undisclosed sum.
Solano Partners was founded by Jon Edirmanasinghe in January 2022, having previously been a partner at Cavendish Corporate Finance and also worked at EY and Deloitte.
Shift was founded in 2017 by chief executive Jacob Corlett when he was 23. After leaving school at 16, Mr Corlett attended the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, which was set up by the Dragons’ Den star.
Over recent years, Shifted has been on an acquisition spree, snapping up a series of businesses across the country.
At the end of 2020, Shift acquired Courier Direct, a Bristol-based delivery and courier service which has been operating for more than 20 years.
At the same time, Shift acquired JLF Moving Solutions in a separate transaction. The Staffordshire company has been in business for three decades.
In June 2021, Shift announced a £750,000 deal to buy Techlogico, a B2B specialist courier and transport logistics business which had been founded in 2013.
In April 2023 the company said it was on track to become a £100m turnover business with more than 300 employees after buying Berlin-based home move tech company Movinga.
However, no official financial figures have ever been made public to confirm Shift’s turnover claim.
At the end of June 2023, Shift bought Sheffield-headquartered Tuffnells after it collapsed into administration, a move which put more than 2,000 jobs at risk.
The acquisition created a combined business with operations in seven European countries – the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland.
Now Yodel, Tuffnells and Shift, as well as the other companies that have been acquired in recent years, are all owned by YDLGP Limited. According to Companies House, the business was incorporated on February 10 and mr Corlett is its sole director and major shareholder.
Who are Shift’s shareholders?
According to a document filed with Companies House, founder and chief executive Jacob Corlett holds 80,000 shares in the business.
London-based Fuel Ventures holds 21,210 shares having backed the firm to the tune of £1.3m in May 2021. The investment was part of a wider funding round which saw Shift raise £10m.
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, the 18th Duke of Norfolk, has a shareholding of 9,576 in Shift.
MacTaggart & Mickel Investments, a family-owned UK land and property group which was founded in 1925 in Scotland, owns 3,372 shares.
London-based investment firm Oxalyst Partners has a 8,300 holding while Damus Capital has a small stake of just 72 shares.
Kin Capital Investments also owns 7,233 shares and 6,762 shares over two separate holdings.
Kelly Hampaul, who founded hedge fund firm Everett Capital Advisors, owns 1,212 shares while Tamara GREGORY, who is Shift’s head of finance, has a stake of 8,555 shares.
London-based family office SEL Capital Group has a stake of 8,593 shares and Lorne Somerville, the managing partner of CVC Capital Partners, owns 3,130 shares.
Retired member of Lansdowne Partners and a former managing director of Morgan Stanley William de Winton holds 2,112 shares.
Lord John Nash, a former minister under David Cameron and Theresa May, has 878 shares while LDS Investments also has a small holding of 80 shares.
Former Wimbledon champion Sir Andy Murray also holds 92 shares through his involvement in Fuel Ventures.
Overall, there were around 150 shareholders in Shift Group Limited before the deal with YDLGP Limited.