Spirit Capital exits Tidy Files in R75 million sale

Spirit Capital has sold its majority interest Tidy Files, a document management and storage business it first backed in 2009. South Africa’s competition commission have now approved the sale of the private equity firm’s interest to Metrofile Holdings, a JSE-listed records and information management company, who are paying R75 million or $5.8 million for full ownership of the company. Metrofile is funding the acquisition using its cash resources.

Tidy Files provides end-to-end document management and storage solutions in Southern Africa, and is well-known for the design, supply and implementation of Paper-based and Electronic Document and Records Management Solutions. According to Pfungwa Serima, Metrofile’s CEO, the acquisition makes sound strategic sense, helping the company to complement and expand its client service offering across Africa and the Middle East. In a statement on Tidy Files website, the company’s CEO, Gavin Leonard stated that the timing was right for the Metrofile acquisition.

“We have grown the business into a recognized leader with the support and backing of private equity firm Spirit Capital for the last ten years,” he said. “Time to expand and launch a new growth trajectory was imminent, so the Metrofile acquisition was positively received and is an exciting new period for us.”

The transaction is the second for Spirit Capital in recent months, following the private equity firm’s disposal of its majority interest in CHC Resources, an importer and distributor of bulk chemicals, niche polymers, films and adhesive products. Source: Africa Capital Digest