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Deal Maker of the Year Awards 2012 WINNER - UK
DEAL: Green Automotive Company Acquires Liberty Electric Cars Ltd.
NAME: Darren West COMPANY: Thomas West Investments Limited ADDRESS: 17 Leaze Road, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 3JR TEL: +44 (0)7773 805241 FAX: +44 (0)1626 240191 EMAIL: d.jwest@btopenworld.com
BIO:
A very commercially decisive, profit orientated, customer service focused qualified Chartered Accountant with;
• extensive International Manufacturing and cultural experience having worked in more than 30 countries
• extensive knowledge of acquisitions, mergers and disposals
• broad exposure to a multitude of industries and sectors – Food, Manufacturing, Property, Brewing, Leisure, Service, Retail, Telecommunications, Mining etc.
• strong systems knowledge gained from implementing a variety of systems e.g. reservations, payroll, fixed assets, general ledger, purchase ledger etc.
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• very hands on person who likes to walk the shop-floor /business and understand issues at the grassroots.
I trained and qualified as a chartered accountant in the City before spending the next 10 years in high profile internal audit roles within the Drinks industry, Car rental and mining. I then spent two years as a financial trouble shooter for a major Food company dealing with mergers in Germany and the re-instatement of a factory following a fire. I was head-hunted by one of the largest companies in the world to act as site financial controller for one of the largest optical component factories employing over 6,000 people. I worked there for 6 years with the last two years spent moving the factory to China. The last 6 years have seen me act as consultant to start ups with innovative cleantech, Food & drink or Telecom products. I have also been involved with a number of acquisitions and disposals in that time.
DEAL OVERVIEW: Q
Please summarise the transaction
The deal was an all paper deal in which the shareholders of Liberty Electric cars swapped their shares, in Liberty, for shares in GACR. At the current share price of $0.45 it valued the complete deal at around $42m. This meant that the shareholders of Liberty (including those last in) showed a very healthy return on their original investments. I was subsequently elected to the Board of GACR and it is the plan of the GACR Board to get the company listed on to the Amex market as fast as is humanly possible. GACR has a great story, a fantastic management team and are in one of the most dynamic and exciting sectors that they want to share this ride with more people and the Amex enables them to tap into a much larger investor community.
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What was your role within the transaction?
I researched and found GACR in the US. I made contact with them and I got them quickly warmed up to Liberty to point that they made an offer that the Liberty team could not refuse.
What were the challenges or difficulties presented?
As with all deals that involve the US and “SEC/FINRA” there are a myriad of rules and lots of red-tape that have to be complied with. There is also the small matter of culture and competing egos. There were a number of days where both parties were about to walk away.
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How were the challenges or difficulties overcome?
You have to be very patient and handle all parties with kid gloves. I am very good at bringing parties together and finding a common
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ground in which a deal can be struck. You also have to regularly remind both parties what the end goal is.
What other types of clients or transactions have you been involved with?
I am currently working on two revolutionary projects.
The first opportunity sees us manufacture special biodegradable golf tees, which reduce golf course waste and provides a revenue stream for the course itself.
The second business plans to build greenhouses adjacent to a solar farm and an Anaerobic Digester to leverage the cheap electricity, heating and CO2 produced. This will enable the company to produce commercially viable rapid grown English roses for fifty two weeks of the year. They will have the lowest carbon footprint of any Rose grower in the world. Their roses will have a very low carbon footprint because of the way they are grown, combined with the removal of air freight and transporting them large distances. All roses currently sold in the major supermarkets are imported and this is causing major carbon footprint issues, these flowers will be the only UK produced Roses sold by the UK multiple retailers.
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What are your thoughts and predictions for 2013 and beyond?
I hope 2013 sees the banks return to some degree of normality. I had a number of good deals fall through in 2012 because we could not secure basic debt funding.