Andrew Cope takes on senior role at Fleetondemand

Mr Cope is probably best known for his role in developing the Leeds-based leasing company Zenith. Mr Cope steered the company through five successful private equity buyouts between 2003 and 2014.

In 2015, he played a leading role in the sale of Huddersfield-based fleet accident management group FMG to Redde Plc, just four months after snapping up the firm in a backed management buyout. In 2015, he invested alongside Endless and acquired Essential Fleet services, merging the business with Go Plant in 2017.

Fleetondemand appointed Mr Cope to his latest role following the recent deal with the Business Growth Fund (BGF), which has acquired a minority stake in the firm, through a £5 million investment.

Justin Whitston, chief executive of Fleetondemand, said: “With the support of BGF and Andrew, we will be able to ramp up engineering and product development and rapidly accelerate our sales strategy in the UK and pan European launch in 2019.

“It’s a hugely exciting time for the business and we all look forward to working together to achieve the company’s growth potential over the next three years.”

Mr Cope said: “Having known Justin for many years and watched with real interest and admiration the development of the company, the chance to become chairman at this ground-breaking juncture in the history of the company, especially with the recent launch of the Mobilleo platform was a real honour.”

BGF supports a range of growing companies across every region and sector. Hundreds of companies are using its equity capital investments to accelerate growth. Collectively, the companies in BGF’s portfolio employ around 50,000 people.