deals update Sale of Abritas to Civica


Completion Date: 15/12/16 Target: Abritas Acquirer: Civica UK Deal Value: Undisclosed


Details: Spectrum Corporate Finance successfully advised the shareholders on the sale of Reading-based Abritas, to Civica UK, owned by The Civica Group. Abritas provides web-based application software to the UK social housing sector. Spectrum ran a full marketing process and the business attracted interest from global trade buyers


Corporate Finance Advisers: Spectrum – Clive Hatchard, Iain McKenzie and Richard Boyden


Legal Advisers: Clark Holt: Richard Clark Financial Due Diligence: EY Commercial Due Diligence: Credo Business Consulting LLP


Acquisition of Vertical Transportation


Completion Date: 15/12/16 Target: Vertical Transportation Acquirer: City Lifting Deal Value: Undisclosed


Details: Freeths acted for City Lifting, a well established crane hire company located in Essex, in its strategic acquisition of Leighton Buzzard-based Vertical Transportation. The acquisition increases the number of cranes in the City Lifting fleet and extends the geographical reach of the business


Legal Advisers: Freeths, Oxford (Tom Walker – corporate; Claire Boyce – tax) for the acquirer. Gateley plc for the sellers


Irwin Mitchell advises Engage ESM acquisition


Irwin Mitchell LLP in Southampton has advised Engage ESM, a leading provider in the enterprise-service management sector and a ServiceNow Gold Services Partner, on its acquisition by Atos, a global leader in digital services.


Investment in IconX


Sipsmith and Beam Suntory join together in strategic partnership


Completion Date: Exchange of contracts 14/12/2016. Completion 5/1/2017


Target: Sipsmith Acquirer: Suntory UK Holdings Deal Value: Undisclosed


Details: Beam Suntory, the third largest spirits company in the world, has acquired a controlling interest in Sipsmith, the well-known London-based distiller, in a strategic partnership to deliver global growth in the premium gin market


Legal Advisers: Oliver Pilkington of Pitmans LLP


Completion Date: 12/16 Target: IconX Acquirer: Connection Capital LLP Deal Value: £4.6 million


Details: HMT LLP, led by directors Peter Wear and Holly Bedford-Bell, and partner Andrew Thomson, advised the shareholders of IconX, an innovative British manufacturer of semi-automated key cutting machines, on its fundraising supported by Connection Capital


Funding: Connection Capital Corporate Finance Advisers: HMT


Legal Advisers: Gateley (Connection Capital), Blake Morgan (management) Financial Due Diligence: Grant Thornton – Bristol Commercial Due Diligence: Latitude


Project Berlin


Completion Date: 22/12/16 Target: BK Holdings Acquirer: GL Education Deal Value: Undisclosed


Details: Freeths advised the selling shareholders on the sale of Boardworks, the publisher of educational software designed and the company behind Doddle, the formative assessment platform, to the GL Education group


Corporate Finance Advisers: Critchleys LLP


Legal Advisers: Freeths, Oxford (Leon Arnold & Malin Svanberg Larsson – corporate; Claire Boyce – tax) for the selling shareholders. Roxburgh Milkins for the acquirer


Sale of World of Books and Ziffit


Completion Date: 22/11/16 Target: A World of Buzz, the parent company of World of Books, World of Rare Books and Ziffit Acquirer: Bridges Ventures Deal Value: Undisclosed


Sale of The Leisure Pass Group Holdings


Completion Date: 16/12/16 Target: The Leisure Pass Group Holdings


Acquirer: Exponent Private Equity Deal Value: Undisclosed


Details: Spectrum Corporate Finance and international legal practice Osborne Clarke have advised the senior management team on the sale of the business to Exponent Private Equity, which invests in UK- headquartered businesses with enterprise values between £75 million and £350m. Leisure Pass is a leading city attraction pass provider with operations in 19 major international cities across Europe and North America


Corporate Finance Advisers: Spectrum – Simon Davies (management advisory); Harris Williams & Co (sell-side)


Legal Advisers: Osborne Clarke (Greg Leyshon, Mark Saunders and Louise Stuart-Buddery) legal advisers to management; Cooley: Stephen Rosen (sell-side)


Details: World of Books is the UK’s leading used book, DVD, CD and console game reseller. Acting as the lead adviser Spectrum ran a full marketing process that attracted global interest from both trade and private equity buyers, before agreeing to sell to Bridges Ventures, supported by the incumbent management team. In addition, Spectrum advised Bridges Ventures on a debt raise in support of their investment into A World of Buzz


Funding: Bridges Ventures (private equity); Clydesdale (bank)


Corporate Finance Advisers: Spectrum – Simon Davies and Bilal Hasan (lead advisory); Ian Milne and Simon Sherliker (debt advisory)


Legal Advisers: Pitmans: Sean Kelly Financial Due Diligence: BDO: Andy Harris Commercial Due Diligence: Parthenon-EY: Paul Ahern


This acquisition will enable Atos to offer enterprise and emerging customers an enhanced portfolio of cloud-based service- management solutions and it will further solidify the position of Atos as Europe’s number-one brand in IT and digital services.


John Riddick, corporate partner at Irwin Mitchell in Southampton, and senior associate, James Paton-Philip, advised the selling shareholders of Engage ESM. They were assisted by Maria Emanuelli, a trainee in the London office.


Operating globally with £17 million in revenues and around 140 employees, the majority of whom are based in the UK, Engage ESM consultants are among the most experienced in the world. In addition, the company has demonstrated a strong capability in hiring, training, and retaining new consultants across its ESM practices.


Wilkins Kennedy merges with Griffins accountants


Top 20 accountancy firm Wilkins Kennedy has merged with Griffins accountants, creating a combined firm with 73 partners and an expected turnover of £50 million. The firms completed the transaction and the merged firm will trade as Wilkins Kennedy.


The deal is an important part of Wilkins Kennedy’s growth strategy for the region. As well as providing a strong presence in Newbury, Reading and Berkshire, the firm now has continuous office coverage from Southampton and the South Coast, through Winchester and up to the M4 corridor.


In October the firm merged with Day, Smith & Hunter in a deal that created one of the largest independent firms in Kent.


Next Deadline Monday, February 13 for the March issue


To submit deal data or to advertise on this page contact: steve@elcot.co.uk


Elcot Publications is not responsible for the accuracy of information in the Deals Update section which is supplied by individual firms


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – FEBRUARY 2017


Two Griffins directors will join Wilkins Kennedy. Chris Duggan joins as a partner and Ken Weeks as a consultant.


Duggan said: “We are delighted to be merging with Wilkins Kennedy, a firm that shares our culture and ethos. As well as enabling us to offer additional advisory services to our clients.”


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