Jobs saved as Redhall division is bought by private equity fund
More than 50 jobs have been saved after Enact, a £30m SME fund, agreed to buy the trade and assets of Redhall Networks – a division of the listed Wakefield-headquartered Redhall Group, which entered administration last week.
Chesterfield-based Redhall Networks is being acquired by Enact – the fund run by Leeds-headquartered private equity firm Endless – in the third deal to be completed since Redhall was placed in administration last Monday (June 11).
Booth Industries was sold in a £1.8m deal just hours after Redhall was placed in administration, saving 90 jobs. Redhall Jex, trading as Jex Engineering, was also snapped up in a matter of days, saving 70 jobs.
Redhall Networks is a leading service provider to the mobile telecommunications and broadcast sectors providing service, maintenance and upgrade of the mobile phone infrastructure and the commissioning and integration of 2, 3, 4 and 5G networks.
The investment in Redhall Networks is the first completed by Enact Fund II, with Enact stepping in to back the management team of Gavin and Simon Rabbitt, providing significant working capital to support the ambitious growth plans and enable the business to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector with the roll out of 5G.
Administrators Chris Petts and Sarah O’Toole of Grant Thornton UK LLP are dealing with the Redhall Group administration process.
Chris Cormack, Partner leading the Enact fund, joins Redhall Networks board and will support the existing management team.
Cormack said: “Redhall Networks was a profitable standalone business within the Redhall Group with a very experienced management team.
“The issues experienced at Group were completely unconnected to this business and we are delighted to have the opportunity to support Gavin and Simon and provide certainty to the business going forward. The investment was completed in five working days which is testament to the hard work of all parties involved.”
Gavin Rabbitt, Managing Director of Redhall Networks added: “Redhall Networks has built a great reputation of providing expertise and a reliable service to our customers. As such there was significant interest in the business and after meeting with several interested parties we were pleased to partner with Enact who were able to support the acquisition and ambitious development plans for the business moving forward. We are excited to at last be working with likeminded people to achieve a single goal.”
Enact Fund II, which build on the success enjoyed by Fund I, invests transformational capital of up to £5 million into UK based SMEs that have a robust business model but are facing capital constraints, strategic challenges or operational issues.
The individuals who comprise the investor base of Enact Fund II include successful entrepreneurs, existing and former Board members of successful Yorkshire businesses and management from former portfolio companies. The single biggest investor in the Fund is the Endless and Enact partner and employee group.
Cormack added: “We are in advanced discussions with a number of other businesses and are hopeful of announcing further transactions shortly. We’d also be delighted to speak to other SMEs that would benefit from investment from Enact.”
Petts said: “This transaction is the third Redhall business to be sold by Grant Thornton following administration, saving over 200 jobs in total. We are very pleased to have facilitated the sale of a well-established business to Enact which is well placed to take the business forward.”
Enact was advised by Simon Pilling, James Cook and Rebecca Ridley of Womble Bond Dickinson.
The Grant Thornton team was led by Chris Petts and James Bulloss and advised by John Alderton and Charlie Draper of Squire Patton Boggs. The Redhall Networks management team of Gavin and Simon Rabbitt were advised by Tamanna Keir and Sandip Khroud of Gateley.
