London taxi firm Addison Lee sold for £300m

Summary: 

London taxi firm sold for £300m

A taxi firm which started in London in the 1970s with one car has been sold for £300m to a private equity firm. Addison Lee, which started in 1975 in south London and now has 4,500 cars, has been bought by the Carlyle Group. Founder John Griffin will remain chairman of the company and his son Liam will be chief executive. Mr Griffin entered the trade after he gave up his accountancy apprenticeship to help his father. In a statement, Carlyle said: "The focus for Carlyle's investment in Addison Lee will be to drive business expansion both in the UK and internationally."


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Personal opinion:

It's always nice to see a company/business that has had such a humble beginning do well in the end. I never realized that most of the taxi's driving around in the UK were Addison Lee taxi's. I suppose they will be throwing a nice retirement party and enjoying the rest of their days spending their well earned money. I'm glad they are staying on as chairman and chief executive though. Too often companies get sold off and never hear from their former owners again which ultimately results in a failed enterprise because the former owners knew so much that their knowledge would have been vital.

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Source: BBC News. (2013, April 20)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22230868