We are delighted to have supported Cairngorm Capital Partners LLP’s (Cairngorm Capital) portfolio company, E-zec Medical Transport Services (E-zec) in their merger with ERS Transition Limited (trading as ERS Medical). The partnership creates the UK’s stand-out industry leader in the provision of non-emergency patient transport services to the NHS and local authorities. The enlarged business serves more than 50 commissioning bodies with the support of 2,500 specialist employees, from 55 operational sites nationwide. In 2022, the combined business generated revenues in excess of £100m.

ERS Medical provides patient transport, medical courier and GP out of hours services to over 40 NHS and healthcare customers across the UK. In 2022, it completed approximately 700,000 patient journeys and transported over 10 million pathology samples. E-zec provides patient transport, mental health and specialist transport services to local authorities and in 2022, delivered over 720,000 patient journeys.

This partnership is strategically important to both companies and given the breadth of their service expertise, is highly complementary. It delivers considerable geographical expansion, with near national coverage and an extension to their respective services. Importantly, it provides the platform to drive innovation and future growth – facilitating the sharing of operational and service best-in-class initiatives, and the development of new services, for the benefit of customers, commissioners and service users.

Andrew Pooley, ERS Medical’s owner and Chief Executive leaves the business to pursue other interests. Jeroen van Os, remains with the business and is appointed as Group Chief Commercial Officer, working with Craig Smith, Group Chief Executive Officer and the wider executive team to integrate the two businesses and to realise the growth potential that this partnership offers.

The team at ERS Medical set out to be the leading healthcare transport provider in the UK and have achieved significant growth over the last 5 years. To help unlock our future potential, we have taken the decision to partner with E-zec. Both businesses are specialists in non-emergency transport services and share a commitment to deliver high quality, people-oriented services. This naturally creates the foundations for a strong partnership, enabling the delivery of best-in-class services to our customers, patients and provides further opportunities for all colleagues. I look forward joining the executive team and delivering our next phase of growth.

Jeroen van Os, who becomes the group’s Chief Commercial Officer

Craig Smith, E-zec’s Chief Executive Officer added, “We are delighted to welcome ERS to our family. The health and social care sectors are undergoing rapid change and our partnership will truly help us to support those in our communities who need us the most. We have much in common, with a shared ethos and culture of care. This is an obvious partnership that strengthens our offering to our employees, customers and patients, while also giving us a platform for further growth. We have much to learn from each other and are excited about the next phase of our growth.”

Dr Amit Thaper, who led Cairngorm Capital’s team on this investment, commented, “Since acquiring E-zec in May 2021, we have established a very strong management team and expanded our range of services, all while improving services for patients. ERS is a business that is highly regarded by its customers and service users. The combination of E-zec and ERS is strategically compelling and creates the industry leader within specialist clinical transport services, to the benefit of our customers and service users. The significant investments we are making, with support from ThinCats, will allow the company to achieve its ambitions for growth and we look forward to supporting Craig and his team in the delivery of their growth plan.”

James Osbiston, Director Business Development, ThinCats, said: “We are delighted to have worked with the expert teams at E-zec, MDW and Cairngorm Capital on this transaction, and are excited to support E-zec through its next phase of growth. It’s gratifying that we can support investment into a business that is playing a major role in improving efficiencies in our NHS and helping to manage patient backlogs. Equally, working with Cairngorm Capital, further cements our commitment to supporting the private equity community with their investment into the UK SME market.”

ThinCats were advised on this transaction by MDW Capital Partners. Cairngorm Capital and E-zec were advised on this transaction by BDO (financial and tax), Gowling WLG (legal), Drystone Strategy (commercial), Specialist Risk Group (insurance) and Intechnica (IT). ERS Medical was advised by Francis Clark LLP (corporate finance), GA Solicitors (property) and Foot Anstey (legal).