LDC pumps £16m into hair and beauty business Rush

Rush comprises 85 salons across the UK, with its York salon located on Market Street and is about to behin a national roll out programme.

A recent regional salon opening programme has taken Rush to major UK cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol. It boasts L’Oreal is a key strategic brand partner, supplying both retail and professional products.

A spokesperson said: “The investment will help accelerate Rush’s national expansion of the brand as the company plans to accelerate the roll out and almost double its salon count over the next four years.”

To reinforce the brand’s creative reputation, the partnership will also support the opening of Rush’s new Covent Garden academy which will offer industry leading training to stylists. Rush will also invest in Shop Rush, the Group’s online hair and beauty e-commerce platform.

The UK hair market is currently worth £6.7billion and is forecast to grow at 2% per annum over the next five years.

Launched over 22 years ago by hairdressers, Andy Phouli and Stell Andrew, Rush started as a single salon in Wimbledon. The business now generates sales of over £36million with profit (EBITDA) of over £4million. It employs over 1,100 stylists and beauticians, opening its doors to over 13,000 customers a week.

The deal was led by the South team of LDC, headed by Managing Director Yann Souillard. Investment Director Chris Baker played a significant role in the transaction. As part of the deal, LDC will acquire a minority shareholding, which will see Investment Directors Alastair Weinel and Tanya Thompson join the board of the business.

Stell Andrew, Founder of Rush, said: “Until now we have grown our business organically but felt the time was right to turbo-charge our expansion plans, which is why private equity investment is a natural next step for us. We are now in a position to substantially increase our national presence and bring the Rush brand to more customers across the country.”

Andy Phouli, Founder of Rush, said: “We have known Yann and his team for several years. As a family business, it’s important for us to work with an investment partner that shares our ethos and vision. We already have a fantastic management team in place with George Phouli, Peter Phouli and Andreas Pantelli, and from the outset LDC were fully supportive of our plans. LDC gave us the confidence they were the right fit to help us deliver our growth ambitions, and we can’t wait to get started on the next phase of our growth journey!”

Alastair Weinel, Investment Director, LDC in the South: “Rush has a proven scalable model. Its strong brand proposition means the business in an ideal position to push on and grow its UK footprint. The development of its training academy and continued innovation will further support the business’ status as the market-leading player in the hair and beauty sector. In Stell and Andy we are backing a strong, ambitious management team with a clear vision for the future which we are excited to be a part of.”

LDC was advised by Shoosmiths, Spectrum Corporate Finance, KMPG, Pragma Consulting, Catalysis and JLT. The management team was advised by, Deloitte and Osborne Clarke.