Taxi Driver Online

Addison Lee drives £300m debt deal in battle with Uber

Addison Lee, the British taxi group fighting an increasingly intense turf war with rivals such as Uber, is plotting a £300m refinancing that will strengthen its warchest for future takeovers.

Sky News has learnt that Addison Lee‎ Group has begun talks with investment banks about a deal that will see it replace existing debt facilities. The discussions come as ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft prepare to launch US stock market flotations - the former at a reported valuation of up to $120bn.

Sources close to Addison Lee, which is owned by the private equity investor Carlyle, said that part of its ‎new borrowing was likely to be denominated in US dollars for the first time, hinting at potential further expansion on the other side of the Atlantic.

Carlyle has owned the company, which used to be London's biggest minicab operator, since 2013, and has been rumoured periodically to be considering selling it. The latest refinancing plan suggests that a sale is still likely to be some way off, according to insiders.

Run by Andy Boland, its chief executive, Addison Lee has a fleet of about 5,000 cars in London and holds a roughly 10% share of the market, behind traditional black cabs and Uber. In its results for the year to August 2017, Addison Lee ‎said it was transforming "from a London private hire business to a global premium ground transport provider", but that the investment associated with this had dragged it to a £20.8m annual loss.

Revenues, however, soared by 31% to £346m‎, with that figure expected to top £400m in the following year. "At the current rate of growth, we expect to double the size of Addison Lee Group in the next three years," he said.

‎The company has been competing aggressively with apps like Uber for years, and has made a series of acquisitions, including in the US, in an effort to recapture lost momentum. However, Addison Lee has also found itself in the firing line in the debate about the gig economy, with a tribunal last year ruling that its drivers were workers and therefore entitled to holiday pay and the national living wage.

A Carlyle spokeswoman declined to comment on Thursday.

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IDFIMH

so clearly a business in decline why would banks refinance it



If I was a bank I would be thinking margins shrinking don't touch with barge pole

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector