E-Invoicing Firm Handles VAT Globally

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

19 October 2006

VAT-compliant global invoicing service OB10 announced yesterday that an additional GBP7.3m of new capital has been raised from within its existing shareholder base, led by investment bank Flemings.

Of the total, GBP5m is being provided by FF&P Private Equity, the private equity division of Fleming Family & Partners (FF&P), which was one of OB10's major existing investors, and is now the Company's largest individual shareholder.

At the same time, OB10's Executive Chairman, David Newlands, who is also Chairman of Tomkins Plc, Paypoint Plc and KESA Plc, has also made a further substantial personal investment in the company, along with a number of employees, thereby providing a good indication of the confidence from within the business.

This latest round of finance will be used to expand OB10's business in Europe, US and Asia, following recent progress in all three of these areas. In addition, the funds will be used to support the ongoing development of OB10's range of services in line with emerging customer requirements.

"The fact that a group as illustrious as FF&P should choose to underpin our growth in such a substantial way is a great compliment to OB10 as a company, and to the progress that we have made thus far," says Jamie Gunn, CEO, OB10. "With the support of our investors, we have delivered exactly what we set out to do over the last 18 months, including the continued expansion of our salesforce and channel in the face of sustained market demand, and the consistent performance of our sales teams in all territories."

"e-Invoicing certainly offers an attractive business proposition, since it enables companies to cut the cost of handling invoices, whilst also improving their on-time payments and providing much greater control over cash flow," says David Donnelly, CEO, FF&P Private Equity. "After seeing the OB10 network continue to grow in both membership and transaction volume following our earlier rounds of investment, we feel confident that additional funding at this stage will support even greater growth for the Company."

"Without a doubt, this latest investment is a direct result of OB10's recent successes and progress since its last round of funding," says David Newlands, Chairman, OB10. "The confidence that existing investors have in the Company will not only enable OB10 to develop its business even further, but also negates the need for OB10 to tap into external markets, as the company's investor base boasts an incredible strength and breadth of its own."

With this latest round of finance now in place, OB10 will have the financial resources to grow the business rapidly and across multiple geographies. This latest investment will be used exclusively to fund further growth enablement. This significant level of investment will allow OB10 to maintained considerable financial headroom compared to its projected plans, enabling the Company to grow very quickly as the market for its services expands.

OB10 (www.OB10.com) says it is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing networ, simplifying and streamlining the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organisations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by up to 60 percent and delivers an ROI in less than a year. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers in over 70 countries. To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrolment, each new customer's suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network.

Customers in Europe and North America include: HP, GSK, Agilent, General Motors, Barclays, Crown Holdings, Cargill, ArvinMeritor, Computacenter, Mohawk Industries, Grief, ColdWater Creek, P&G, TUI, OyezStraker Office Supplies, Eaton, Medas (BBC), Fisher Scientific, Xansa (BT), North Yorkshire County Council, East Lancashire Financial Services, SaraLee, and LogicaCMG.

FF&P Private Equity has over GBP250 million of discretionary funds under management and invests, typically, GBP5 million to GBP25 million of equity per transaction, although it will also commit larger amounts in conjunction with a number of its blue-chip co-investors. It places particular emphasis on backing commercial managers with a track record in successful execution of business plans and enhancing shareholder value.

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