Close Brothers Private Equity has provided the equity funding to facilitate the £25m secondary management buy-out of Network Disaster Recovery ("NDR").

NDR is a leading independent IT disaster recovery company in the mass market supporting over 900 customers in a range of industry sectors throughout the UK. The customer base includes such leading companies as T&N Group, Orange and Avon Cosmetics.

The business was established by the current management team in 1994 with investment funding from 3i Group plc. The company offers flexible solutions for any disaster recovery scenario including business recovery positions at its London, Birmingham and Bristol centres, mobile computer units, equipment offload and remote connection. The systems covered include IBM AS/400 and RS/6000, DEC VAX and Alpha, SUN, HP 3000 and HP 9000 as well as PC servers which comprises 36% of the business.

CBPE is committing £5.5m to the transaction with the balance of the funding being provided by Bank of Scotland and the management team.

This is the third investment in CBPE's Fund VI. This fund opened in October 2000 and with a target of £200m there is now only £75m left to be raised. In addition to existing UK investor’s new commitments are being received from Continental Europe, the Middle East and the US.

Commenting on the transaction, Sean Dinnen, Partner at CBPE, who joins NDR's board as a Non-Executive Director said: "We are excited to have the opportunity to back an experienced team who have built a strong business over the past six years. We look forward to their continued success in this growth market."

Ted Byrne, Managing Director of NDR added: "We are very happy to have completed this transaction and look forward to working with CBPE to develop the value of the business."

Commenting on the new investment in NDR and CBPE's fundraising, John Snook, Partner and Managing Director of CBPE, said: "This new investment for Fund VI is great news. Our new fund is being well received because we are demonstrating strong deal flow in the mid market area; we've maintained this focus deliberately avoiding the hype in technology and the high prices in the LBO areas. I anticipate closing the fundraising for our VIth Fund during the first quarter of 2001 by which time the fund will also be significantly invested in some exciting opportunities."