Osborne Clarke advises Tenzing on its investment in CitNOW

International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised UK lower mid-market investor, Tenzing Private Equity on its acquisition of CitNOW Video Limited, a leading global provider of video software solutions to the automotive industry.

CitNOW is a specialist provider of video applications that create a more transparent, easier car buying and owning experience for automotive dealership customers. Its applications improve performance of automotive dealerships by allowing staff to send personalised, branded video presentations of vehicles for sale. In addition, workshop technicians use CitNOW’s Workshop app to send videos to customers to evidence parts that need replacing when cars are brought in for service.

CitNOW has pioneered video in the automotive industry and grown rapidly to become a global market leader, with over 7,500 installations in franchised car dealerships in 42 countries. CitNOW currently works with more than 40 vehicle manufacturers around the world. Last year, the company tripled its presence in Europe and increased its global revenues by over 50%, compared with 2016. In the last two years, CitNOW has twice ranked in The Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100.

The buyout of CitNOW marks Tenzing’s third investment from its maiden £200m fund and underlines Tenzing’s commitment to supporting buyouts of high growth independent market leaders and backing high energy, driven management teams and founders to accelerate their growth in the UK lower mid-market.

This transaction is the second time Osborne Clarke has advised Tenzing in the last few months, having previously advised on its investment in Converge TS, a specialist provider of managed and hosted IT services to the UK legal sector.

The private equity house is a long-time client of lead client partner Tim Hewens. Tim was supported on the transaction by Partner Alistair Francis, Associate Kate Robinson and Senior Associate Sarah Crabtree.

Osborne Clarke’s corporate team is considered a go-to practice for many companies in the connected and autonomous vehicles sector, working with a range of clients from global and automotive businesses to fast-growth start-ups and market challengers. The team advises at every stage of company development across all corporate issues, from equity and debt fundraisings to M&A, IPOs and JVs.