Website
Sector
HQ
London, UK
Geographic footprint
UK, United States
Sales
>£500m
Employees
200+
Investment date
March 2017
Status
The company
Formed in 2013, Talon Outdoor is the UK’s only fully independent Out-of-Home specialist media agency, supporting some of the world’s largest advertisers with a proposition based on innovation and data-led insight. Talon is at the forefront of digital innovation in this market, supporting the transition to the delivery of programmatic, targeted and data-driven marketing campaigns. Out-of-Home advertising is an attractive and growing end market and is widely considered to be one of the most effective mediums for building brands.
Number of acquisitions during Mayfair’s investment
4
New markets entered
United States
The investment
Mayfair invested in Talon in March 2017, backing a highly effective management team to grow UK market share, pursue international expansion and invest in digital innovation. Demonstrating the power of Mayfair’s sector network, Eric Newnham, the founder of the business, was introduced to Mayfair by the management team of Ocean Outdoor, a highly successful pre-Mayfair investment. Mayfair exited Talon to Equistone Partners Europe in July 2022.
Our partnership
- Leveraging its UK leadership position to expand to the US, where Digital Out of Home is less developed. Mayfair helped Talon open an office in New York in 2018, which was profitable in the first year and provided the beachhead for a spate of acquisitions.
- Mapping out potential M&A targets across the US and Europe, which resulted in a series of four acquisitions in San Diego, Nashville, London and Dublin. These were integrated into Talon with support from Mayfair’s Specialist team and integration planning framework.
- Growing US billings from near zero in FY16 to c.25% of total billings in FY22.
- Helping to hire a new Chairman, CEO, CFO and CTO.
- The investment of £15m of capex to develop a number of technology platforms, transforming Talon from a traditional Out of Home agency to a tech-enabled innovator at exit. Mayfair exited Talon to Equistone Partners Europe in July 2022, delivering a very strong investment outcome.
“What attracted us most to Mayfair was their knowledge of our sector. They’ve subsequently deployed that knowledge to be a very supportive partner, helping us to develop new technology and expand to the United States.”
Eric Newnham, Founder of Talon
