Dr William Louv on enterprise AI, governance, and the Group
Dr William Louv, Non-Executive Director, with Manvedeep Singh and Viktor Bronzović
Permanent owners of the architecture of commerce.
Xyra Group Holdings is a London holding company formed in 2024 to acquire profitable, founder-owned businesses in commerce and the services that support it, and to hold them. It keeps the name, the team, and the customer relationships of each business it acquires, runs every business to one financial and operating standard, and does not sell. The Group was incorporated on 27 November 2024 and has not yet completed its first acquisition.
Who the Group is here for
Owners, their advisers, and lenders.
Business owners
A permanent home for the business you built. The conversation is confidential from the first call, the answer is in writing with its reasons, and your name, your team, and your customers stay with the business.
Selling to the GroupAdvisers and intermediaries
Published criteria, an indicative view within five working days of screening, a letter of intent within 10 working days of the data room, and no auctions.
For advisersLenders
How an acquisition is financed: senior debt secured on the business acquired and sized on a flat case; the balance of the price in instruments agreed with the vendor, ranking behind the lender.
How an acquisition is financedThe Board
The Board.
The Group is chaired by Lutfi Talib, an accountant of more than 35 years’ standing who began at Ernst & Whinney and is a partner of McMillan Woods. The Vice Chairmen are Andrew Brode, who led the buy-in of RWS in 1995, chaired it from its flotation on AIM in 2003 until 2023, and chaired Learning Technologies Group through its £802m sale to General Atlantic, and Waheed Qaiser, a banker formerly of Citibank, UBS, and HSBC who has worked in Islamic banking in the United Kingdom since the late 1990s. Ten of the sixteen directors are non-executive.
The Board is advised by an Advisory Committee, whose members are not directors of the company: Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London and Alderman for Broad Street.
The Board
How the Board is constituted.
Select a director to read the biography.
Chairman
Vice Chairmen and Principal Founder
Advisory Committee
Advises the Principal Founder and the Board. Not a director.
What the Group acquires
What the Group looks for.
| The business | Profitable; founder-owned; with a second line of management and a customer base that returns |
|---|---|
| Size | Revenue from £5m, with no ceiling; verified EBITDA of £1m or more |
| Sectors | Commerce operators; commerce software; marketing, retail media, and advertising technology; cybersecurity services; fulfilment and third-party logistics; recruitment and staffing; telecommunications |
| Geography | Europe and the Americas now; the Middle East and Asia to follow |
| Control | The whole business, a majority joint venture, or a partnership with a right of first offer |
The full criteria, and what the Group does not buy, are on the Strategy page.
The approach
How the Group works.
Discretion
Every conversation begins between an owner and a director of the Group, under a confidentiality agreement and without an auction. Staff, customers, and suppliers learn of a transaction when the owner decides they should.
Evidence
The Group prices what a business has done, on verified trailing earnings and cohort data, and pays for growth only as it arrives. After the letter of intent the terms move only for a matter the diligence uncovers that was not disclosed: downward, in writing, with the reason.
Decision
A letter of intent within 10 working days of access to the data room. A written answer, with reasons, whether it is yes or no.
Permanence
The Group acquires to hold. There is no fund life, no exit clock, and no obligation to sell. Management that wishes to stay, stays; the name stays.
In conversation
The Xyra Group Podcast.
Founders and operators, and directors of the Group, in conversation on how commerce is built, run, bought, and kept. Episodes are published on YouTube and Spotify.
The real money in AI is not where you think
Jonathan Loretto, Non-Executive Director, with Viktor Bronzović
In conversation with Jesper Nielsen, formerly President of Pandora Central Western Europe
Jesper Nielsen
The future of e-commerce acquisitions
John Hefter, co-founder of Thrasio, with Viktor Bronzović
Xyra Group: who we are and where we are going
Lutfi Talib, Manvedeep Singh, and Viktor Bronzović