24 deals update ... continued from page 22


Project Alpaca


Completion Date: 27/07/12 Target: Wireless Data Systems Acquirer: Xerox Deal Value: Not disclosable


Details: Osborne Clarke (Sara Valentine) acted for Xerox on its acquisition of Wireless Data Systems Funding: Cash funded Corporate Financial Advisers: Arma Partners


Legal Advisers: Osborne Clarke (Sara Valentine/Caroline Drum- mond); Taylor Wessing Financial Due Diligence: Xerox Commercial Due Diligence: Xerox


Sale of Cobalt Holdings


Completion Date: 08/12 Target: Cobalt Holdings Acquirer: Parkmobile Group Deal Value: Undisclosed


Details: Andrew Heathcock and his team at Paris Smith LLP acted for the shareholders of Cobalt Holdings on the acquisition of the company by the Parkmobile Group. Cobalt Holdings is the holding company of Cobalt Telephone Technologies (CTT), which launched RingGo the phone parking service


Corporate Financial Advisers: Andy Coghlan, WK CF


Legal Advisers: Andrew Heathcock, Paris Smith LLP (sellers). Hanno Tolhurst, Cameron McKenna (buyer)


Pavilion acquires PDI (Europe)


RSM Tenon‘s corporate finance team in Southampton has recently managed the acquisition of PDI (Europe), the Hampshire- based on-demand printer of IT training manuals by Pavilion Print Management, a national print manager from Leeds.


PDI (Europe) provides printing and assembly of information technology training manuals to a world-wide client base. The PDI name and brand will be retained, as will all of PDI‘s staff, including four additional staff who have been hired to support incremental revenues generated from the combination of the businesses.


David Platt, owner of Pavilion, commented: “Pavilion has a long-term strategy of buying and building businesses within niche print and communication markets. This acquisition is the first, but more are expected as the Group continues to expand its footprint across the UK.“


The sale was managed by Rob Holmes of RSM Tenon in Southampton. He commented: “Despite difficult conditions in the world economy, there are companies that are keen to grow by acquisition.“


Legal advice was provided by Charles Brooks and Laura Lindsay from Penningtons Solicitors LLP.


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finance


Home Grown Hotels set for growth from £4.8m boost


Home Grown Hotels, the management firm behind New Forest-based The Pig and five- star hotel and restaurant LimeWood, is set for expansion after securing a £4.8 million funding package from Santander Corporate Banking. The funding will enable the company to double its number of trading locations in the south, increasing its market share and providing new jobs across the region.


Home Grown Hotels is renowned for its range of boutique and high-end hotels and restaurants. The Pig, for instance, differentiates itself by growing a large quantity of produce within its walled garden and only sourcing additional ingredients for its restaurant within a 25-mile radius. The firm‘s CEO, Robin Hutson, was awarded the Outstanding Excellence and Innovation UK Award at the Conde Nast Johansens Awards 2012 – one of a number of honours the firm or its management has received over the past two years.


The firm is continuing to invest and grow its portfolio, and the £4.8m package from Santander will be used to develop two new properties in the south. Part of the funding will be used to finish the development of ‘The Pig in the Wall‘, a


satellite boutique bed and breakfast to The Pig in the Forest in Southampton. The majority of the funding will allow Home Grown Hotels to develop a stunning new 26-bed hotel and restaurant – ‘The Pig on the Beach‘, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset.


David Elton, director of Home Grown Hotels, said: “We have developed a unique brand in the UK with a very strong identity and values, and, based on continued business success and customer feedback, are keen to expand our portfolio. Santander demonstrated a thorough understanding of the business and our needs, and we‘re delighted to have the bank on board at this key time.“


Mike Donaldson, relationship director for Santander Corporate Banking, said: “In a relatively short space of time, Home Grown Hotels has become a major competitor in the south. The management team has a comprehensive understanding of their industry sector and this is reflected in the high-calibre, idiosyncratic and highly-popular nature of the portfolio. At Santander, we are committed to growing our business lending and supporting strong, viable businesses like Home Grown Hotels both in the Solent and throughout the rest of the UK.“


HMRC targets Solent food & drink outlets


Tasked with recovering more than £2.5 million of tax from the Solent and South East, HMRC has stepped up its crackdown on tax underpayment by launching five new targeted taskforces, one of which is focusing on restaurants in the area.


Andy Hamman, senior tax manager at BDO LLP Southampton, said: “The central issue is that the UK tax authorities still perceive bars and restaurants to be an area of significant non- compliance and therefore a just target.


“Results from the last restaurant taskforce in 2011, identified recoveries of £634,000 from 45 businesses and commenced prosecutions against 20-plus businesses for deliberate fraud.


“Many speculate this to be a return of HMRC‘s Operation Gourmet, which focused on recouping taxes purportedly owed against staff tips, and more specifically, the way they were handled and distributed by restauranteurs and groups. Many operators, including some pretty big chains


– who thought they were doing the right thing – were caught out.


“This latest restaurant taskforce is one of 30 created by HMRC since May 2001, to look at sectors where it believes it should be seeing more revenues. Whilst not another Operation Gourmet, which focused solely on tronc systems, it heralds more investigation around compliance and will be more wide-ranging than its forebear.


“These focused campaigns are a very cost effective way for HMRC to target a particular segment of the business community where they believe there may be discrepancies between what tax is due and the tax actually paid.


“This is a significant move by HMRC and it will now target the industry with renewed vigour. Staying on the right side of the taxman is something that restaurant and bar owners are going to have to increasingly focus on and resource properly.“


Building societies to play a bigger role


A new report from KPMG predicts that building societies are entering a renewed period of potential growth and success which could lead to them fulfilling a new regional banking role by the end of the decade.


KPMG‘s 22nd annual Building Societies Database, which analyses the performance of the UK‘s 47 building societies as at April 2012,


highlights that the sector has remained resilient despite difficult market conditions, with 23 societies increasing their profit for the year.


This year‘s report also shows that the total group assets of the 47 societies have grown to £315.4 billion, compared with £306.2b in 2011‘s analysis. This increase of £9.2b reverses the prior two year‘s contraction of £13.3b.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – OCTOBER 2012


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