All Seas Capital Realises First Investment
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--All Seas Capital, a pan-European private capital fund that provides transformational capital solutions to leading founder- and entrepreneur-owned companies, is pleased to announce the successful realisation of its investment in Hakim Group, the UK's largest family of independent opticians and audiologists. Hakim takes on new investment from ICG, the global alternative asset manager and, as part of the transaction, All Seas has reinvested in the business to participate in Hakim's next phase of growth, reflecting its belief in Hakim's continued strong momentum.
Founded by Bolton-born entrepreneur and optometrist Dr Imran Hakim in 2005, Hakim Group has grown quickly over the past 20 years by acquiring and partnering in independent optometry practices across the UK and Ireland.
Since All Seas' initial investment in 2020, Hakim has experienced rapid growth, with the number of independent practices increasing nearly five-fold to over 500 and its team now numbers over 3,000 employees. The business provides centralised support services to practices on its platform to support their growth, including training, IT, procurement, finance, technical and HR. This enables practice partners to continue focusing on the local teams and communities with cutting edge optometry and audiology services.
The All Seas team played a key role in Hakim's journey, working with management to support the professionalisation of the business, strengthen the leadership team through the recruitment of a full executive and non-executive management team, enhance financial and operational oversight with significant upgrades to KPI reporting systems and accelerate the onboarding and integration of new partner practices.
The additional capital will enable Hakim to welcome more practices onto its platform and serve more communities across the UK whilst investing in its team, technology, innovation and service standards for customers.
Marc Ciancimino and Cristobal Cuart, Co-Founders and Managing Partners of All Seas Capital, commented:
'This first realisation is a major milestone for All Seas and a testament to our ability to support exceptional founders through transformative growth. Hakim Group is exactly the kind of thriving, ambitious business we seek to partner with. Reinvesting alongside ICG reflects our strong belief in its continued growth, and we're excited to support Imran and his team in the next chapter.'
Dr Imran Hakim, CEO of Hakim Group, said:
'This is an important milestone on our journey and a signal of confidence in our vision, plan, model, culture and team. Together, our investors are backing the existing leadership and management team to achieve our long-term vision for the business to be the UK's leading independent provider of optometry and audiology services, renowned for its innovation and customer service. With All Seas Capital's support, we have achieved phenomenal growth and now having additional investment from ICG behind the business alongside All Seas will enable us to accelerate our plan and 2030 vision for the benefit of our people, partners, customers and communities, whilst helping more people to see better, hear better and live better.'
All Seas Capital was advised by King & Spalding (legal) and Dechert (tax).
About All Seas Capital
All Seas Capital is a pan-European private capital firm. We partner with mid-market businesses, constructing flexible, structured capital solutions - investing a combination of debt and equity - to empower transformational growth.
The team is led by Marc Ciancimino and Cristobal Cuart who co-founded and led KKR's European mezzanine and preferred equity business.
We back growing businesses with strong management teams and help them accelerate their growth plans, supporting entrepreneur and family-owned businesses who have already reached profitability but need strategic capital to realise their ambitions. These businesses have underlying resilience, typically generating EBITDA of €5-50m, with our investment ranging from €30-100m.
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