Clearwater’s Debt Advisory team leads the lender education process to support the sale of Tenzing-backed CitNOW to Livingbridge

Transaction

Tenzing on the sale of CitNOW Group to Livingbridge

Acquisition finance

Undisclosed

Role

Adviser to Tenzing on its sale of CitNOW Group to Livingbridge

Sector

Tech & Tech Services

Region

United Kingdom

Clearwater ran the lender education process to raise acquisition debt to support the Raymond James led sale of CitNOW to Livingbridge. The sale marks an exit for investor Tenzing.

CitNOW is a global, vertical SaaS platform of scale providing a suite of front-office products to automotive dealerships. Tenzing invested in the business in February 2018 and has supported its growth organically and through acquisitions throughout its four-year tenure.

The automotive player has now firmly established itself as a global market leader, with over 13 million sales opportunities created, 60 million videos processed and over 10,000 dealer installations across 64 countries. It is currently the most penetrated vendor of automotive software in the UK market, with approximately 75% of predominantly franchised dealerships using at least one of its products.

Tenzing has high conviction about the additional value CitNOW can create and has materially reinvested from both Tenzing Fund II and Tenzing Belay alongside Livingbridge.

The debt facilities, which were raised from Barings, supports Tenzing’s exit and provides the shareholders of CitNOW with the support it needs to continue with its growth strategy with Livingbridge’s backing.

We’re super proud to have spent the last four years working with the management team at CitNOW as the business has transformed the customer journey in automotive. Along the way, CitNOW broke into new markets and acquired market-leading companies that led to huge growth during our investment period. We’re really grateful to have enjoyed an amazing relationship with the team, initially led by Alistair Horsburgh and then Geoffrey, who have been instrumental in CitNOW’s evolution. As we enter this next chapter, we look forward to partnering with Livingbridge to deploy the combined power of our firms’ Growth Teams to build a truly outstanding business.
Christian Hamilton, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Tenzing

We’ve had an amazing four years with Tenzing, and we’re a stronger and more successful company thanks to their support. Their backing has enabled us to invest heavily in expanding the suite of products we provide to car dealerships and scale the business internationally. We are really excited about our continued partnership with the support of both Tenzing and Livingbridge.
Geoffrey Page-Morris, CEO, CitNOW Group

CitNOW Group is a fantastic business which has built a reputation for innovation and excellence in a large and rapidly evolving sector. We look forward to working with Geoffrey and his team to further scale the business organically, as well as continuing to expand the range of solutions the Group offers to its customers through strategic M&A.
Simon Peet, Partner, Livingbridge

We are delighted to have advised CitNOW to enable the business to move forward with the next phase of its growth story. CitNOW has grown into a fantastic business through both acquisition and organic opportunities. The debt facilities from Barings will enable CitNOW to continue with this momentum with Livingbridge’s expert support along the way.
Chris Smith, Partner, Clearwater