Founded in 1975 with one car, Addison Lee has grown to a fleet of over 4,500 vehicles. Today, the private hire giant works across London carrying over 10 million passengers and couriering 1 million deliveries per year.
In a statement, the Carlyle Group said the focus of its investment in Addison Lee will be to drive business expansion both in the UK and internationally by providing transport services to a wider range of blue chip corporates and individual customers. It added that this will be achieved by enhancing customers’ access to the company’s extensive fleet and significant new innovations in the company’s proprietary technology platforms and brand experience.
Andrew Burgess, managing director of Carlyle Europe Partners added: ‘Addison Lee is a strong business and brand with great potential. As experienced investors in the automotive and transportation sector through companies such as Applus+, Hertz and RAC, we hope Carlyle’s experience and expertise will allow us to support the plans to continue growing the business, both in the UK and internationally and to create value.’
Under the acquisition, John Griffin, founder of the firm, will stay on as chairman of the company while his son Liam will be chief executive.
