Who Owns Lebara?

Lebara is owned by Waterland Private Equity. Companies House shows the chain: Lebara Limited is held by Lebara Holding Limited, which since 6 November 2024 has been controlled by Murrayfield Bidco UK Limited, the vehicle for Waterland’s 2024 purchase. The register records four separate changes of control since 2016 — Lebara has been sold, restructured and sold again, and its founders have been out since 2017. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns Lebara today?

The operating company is LEBARA LIMITED (04293563), incorporated 25 September 2001 and registered at Broadwalk House, Appold Street, London.

Its person with significant control is LEBARA HOLDING LIMITED (14304790), at 75% or more of shares and votes with the right to appoint and remove directors, notified 29 March 2023. That holding company is itself controlled by Murrayfield Bidco UK Limited at 75%+, notified 6 November 2024.

“Bidco” is not a business. It is the conventional name for a company incorporated to make an acquisition, and its appearance on the register is the clearest single signal that a company has been bought by a fund.

Ultimate parent and corporate structure

Above Murrayfield Bidco sits Waterland Private Equity, a Dutch firm. As with every private equity holding covered on this site, the register names UK companies and stops before it reaches the funds — so Waterland’s ownership is established by the announcements of the transaction, not by a UK filing.

Lebara is a virtual mobile operator. It owns no network: it buys wholesale capacity and sells it under its own brand, with its business built on low-cost international calling for migrant communities. That means the company customers pay and the network their calls run over have different owners — the same split covered on this site’s iD Mobile profile.

Major shareholders or controlling persons

No individual controls Lebara today. The register shows only corporate controllers above it, and the economic interest sits with the investors in Waterland’s funds — pension schemes and institutions — with Waterland as manager.

That has not always been true, and the register is unusually informative about the exception. Between 14 September 2017 and 31 July 2019 two individuals resident in Switzerland were recorded as controllers: Raphael Ilya Auerbach, at more than 25% but not more than 50% of shares with more than 50% but less than 75% of the votes, and Suzanei Lynne Archer, at more than 25% but not more than 50% of both.

Note what that pairing shows: a shareholding under half carrying a majority of the votes. Shares and votes are recorded separately on the PSC register precisely because they can diverge, and this is a clean example of someone holding control without holding most of the equity.

Official records and evidence

Every company number, band and date above is from the Companies House PSC registers for 04293563 and 14304790, and each can be checked independently.

The register establishes the structure and the timing. It does not name Waterland, Alchemy or Triton — those identifications come from the firms’ own announcements and from trade press reporting of each transaction.

One case where the register is better than the reporting: the 2017–2019 period is usually described in the press only as ownership by “a Swiss family office”. Companies House names two individuals and their control bands. Lebara Limited also filed a “no registrable person” statement on 27 February 2020 and withdrew it the same day — a filing correction, not a period without an owner.

Ownership history and changes

Lebara was founded in 2001 by Ratheesan Yoganathan, Rasiah Ranjith Leon and Baskaran Kandiah, three UK-based entrepreneurs of Sri Lankan Tamil background, selling international calling to communities the large networks were not serving.

• 6 April 2016 — Lebara Mobile Group B.V. (Netherlands) recorded at 75%+, the founders’ holding structure.
• 14 September 2017 — that entity ceases; Auerbach and Archer are notified. This is the sale to Palmarium, the Swiss buyer.
• 31 July 2019 — both individuals cease.
• 9 January 2020 — Lithium UK Bidco Limited notified at 75%+: the takeover by Alchemy Partners and Triton, reported as a debt-for-equity restructuring after the Palmarium ownership ran into difficulty.
• 6 November 2024 — Murrayfield Bidco UK Limited notified: the Waterland purchase, agreed in August 2024.

Four owners in eight years, one of them arriving through a debt restructuring rather than a sale. The founders have had no controlling interest since 2017.

Related companies and brands

The Lebara group includes country companies for France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, all registered at the same London address and all under the same holding structure — a British-registered group operating largely on the continent.

Lebara is not connected to Lycamobile, which is a separate virtual operator with a similar market and a similar-sounding story, separately owned. The two are routinely confused and have never shared an owner.

Lebara does not own a network. Its UK service runs on capacity bought wholesale, so the ownership of the underlying network is a separate question from the ownership of Lebara.