Banks plan control of Addison Lee in bid to thwart threat of administration say sources

Private hire firm Addison Lee are seeking to thwart the threat of administration as the company’s banks look to take control.

According to The Telegraph, the minicab operators are looking to avoid collapse by agreeing a deal with a group of lenders.

Addison Lee was sold to private equity firm Carlyle back in 2013 for £300m. Selling at a cut price would represent a loss of £230m in outstanding debts, with much of that due to be repaid in April 2020.

Last month Liam Griffin, a former boss of Addison Lee, put in a provisional £125m offer for the transport company according to Sky News sources.

Liam Griffin, son of founder John Griffin, resigned as CEO at Addison Lee in 2015. Liam Griffin does however still hold the position of vice-chairman at the British firm.

Addison Lee operates the second largest private hire service in London after Uber. The firm’s 5,000 cars are said to complete about 25,000 jobs a day, bringing it about 10% of the £3billion London taxi and private hire market.

At the start of 2019 Addison Lee announced it would invest in 1,200 Volkswagen Sharans to create a fleet that is compliant with Transport for London’s new Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which came into force on 8 April 2019.

In May 2019, the London based private hire firm reported losses for 2018 totalling £39m. That comes after losses in 2017 of £20.8m, as they desperately attempt to compete with ride-sharing giants Uber.