DEAL (UNDER £25M) OF THE YEAR


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Winner:


Two top awards were yet to be announced , each honouring the work of the individuals and firms involved in bringing their deals to successful completions.


First, came the five nominees for the ‘Under £25m Deal of the Year‘ category:


• Procius sale to Mitie


£2.3 million trade sale of Basingstoke-based Procius, a leading UK employment screening and vetting service, to Mitie Group in a deal led by WK Corporate Finance.


Key involvements in the deal came from: WK Corporate Finance, Kennedys


• Hamble Yacht Services/Ancasta


Complex reorganisation of the Hamble Property, Hamble Yacht Services, and Ancasta Group with subsequent sale of majority share capital to third-party investors.


Key involvements in the deal came from: Shoosmiths, Lloyds Bank, Rothmans, Blake Morgan, Trethowans, Baker Tilly


• Lambert Brothers sale to Kinaxia


Trade sale of one of the South Coast‘s leading haulage companies, Lambert Brothers, to Kinaxia, an investment company specialising in the haulage and warehousing sector.


Key involvements in the deal came from James Cowper Kreston, Pitmans, Freshfields, Permira Debt Managers, Gateley LLP, KPMG


• 3Si acquisition of Besse & Mill


Besse & Mill, the holding company of marine safety company Ocean Safety, was acquired by 3Si (Safety & Survival Systems International) as the first part of a buy-and-build strategy.


Key involvements in the deal came from: Meridian Corporate Finance, Shoosmiths, HSBC, August Equity, Osborne Clarke, Travers Smith, Hazelwoods


• Wunelli sale to LexisNexis


LexisNexis Risk Solutions acquired Wunelli to create one of the largest provider-held insurance telematics databases in the world.


Key involvements in the deal came from: Moore Blatch, Baker Tilly, Hines Associates, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Reed Elsevier in-house


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – JULY/AUGUST 2015 www.businessmag.co.uk


Matt Forde invited the professional dealmakers attending to consider their choice of winner carefully, and then with only 10 seconds to vote, there was a flurry of fingers on the keypads.


All eyes then turned to the stage as music grew to a crescendo and the screens revealed the winner as the 3Si acquisition of Besse & Mill.


Martyn Begbour (second right), executive director of UBS Wealth Management, sponsor of this category, stepped up to present the Deals Awards trophy.


Later Joe Jeffers (second left), 3Si‘s CFO, explained how the Solent award-winning deal fitted into the company‘s recent ‘buy and build‘ acquisition strategy in the marine safety sector. The deal was backed by August Equity and leading roles were played by Meridian Corporate Finance (for whom Jeffers once worked) and Shoosmiths.


“We have now gone on to acquire four other businesses in the past 12 months and we greatly appreciate the good advice from the Solent professional teams whom we have continued to use throughout our buy-and-build process.“


3Si‘s recent acquisitions have focused on strategic consolidation within their marine marketplace, he explained. “There are huge global opportunities, especially in the US and Far East.“


The Besse & Mill deal in May 2014 was the kick-point for 3Si, which has grown exponentially in 12 months. “We are now about £33m turnover, and our main near-term opportunities are in the offshore market out of Aberdeen, servicing the oil and gas industry, and putting British safety products through our US business Revere Survival based in Florida.“


Jeffers explained that the original buy-and-build business idea came from Doug Baxter now the chief executive of 3Si, and a former CEO of survival technology leader Survitec.


3Si acquisition of Besse & Mill


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