37
OF THE YEAR (OVER £25m) AWARD
DEAL
SPONSORED BY THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE WINNER XLN TELECOM
Above: Ian Barton (left) and Tony Dickin
Left: Barton and Dickin with David Murray (right) and Mark Durden-Smith
As the celebrations continued, there was a call for hush as Mark Durden-Smith read out the names of the three candidates each hoping to win the final title of the night – the prestigious Deal of the Year over £25m.
Competing for the limelight were brightsolid’s acquisition of Friends Reunited; the sale of HobbyCraft to a management team; and the XLN Telecom deal, worth £80 million-.
The brightsolid deal had already enjoyed one moment of glory after being a key differentiator in ensuring Peter Barrand of HMT won Corporate Finance Adviser of the Year. This time, the deal itself was under the magnifying glass as the audience was reminded that brightsolid acquired Friends Reunited from ITV for £25m, just five years after ITV paid £170m for the business.
Working alongside the HMT team were fellow advisers Credit Suisse, legal advisers Lovells and Macfarlanes, while BDO and CIL provided due diligence.
The HobbyCraft deal saw the sale of the UK’s leading out-of-town arts and craft retailer to a management team backed by Bridgepoint Capital. It was described as delivering
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2011
excellent value to the shareholders and one of the largest and most significant deals in the region.
Leading the Grant Thornton team of advisers, which worked closely with Lamport Bassitt, was Simon Davies (now a founding partner of Spectrum Corporate Finance), while others involved were Argyll Partners, Travers Smith, Allen & Overy, KPMG and Javelin.
The final contender was the XLN Telecom deal, which saw Palatine Private Equity exit its investment in the telecoms business via a secondary buyout led by ECI Partners. The deal achieved a tremendous 4.5 times cash return for Palatine in two and a half years, giving shareholders £39m back on their total investment of £8.6m, described as an “exceptional return despite the economic conditions“. It was especially pleasing because Palatine originally invested £6.3m in the MBO of XLN in 2008 and added a further £2m when it acquired OneBill Telecom in 2009.
Tony Dickin led the deal for Palatine, with Ian Barton from Deloitte advising on every transaction, including the exit. Funding was provided by ECI Partners, Clydesdale, Lloyds and RBS, with Shoosmiths, Hammonds and
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DLA advising on the legal side. KPMG and Clearwater handled due diligence.
After a final flurry of discussion, voting keypads were pressed and 20 seconds later the XLN Telecom deal was announced as the worthy winner. David Murray, publisher of The Business Magazine, stepped forward to present the trophy to a delighted Tony Dickin.
Thanking everyone who voted, Dickin told the audience: “This was a great result for investors. A lot of people worked on this transaction, so thank you to everyone in this room for their hard work and for this award.“
Deloitte’s Ian Barton, who joined Dickin on stage, added later: “We are delighted that XLN has been recognised as the Deal of the Year. Deloitte advised all aspects of the business from the original MBO, the acquisition of One Bill, the bank refinancing and the ultimate disposal generating a fantastic return for shareholders through the teeth of the recession.“
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