Sale of lifting equipment specialist is Deal of the Month
THE wealth of locally-advised deals during December made it particularly tough to decide which was the stand-out.
Credit must go to Mills & Reeve and Mercia Technologies for their part in the £18.1m sale of former University of Warwick spin-out Allinea Software to global giant ARM.
Mercia backed the original MBO and then supported the firm through its early stages; the eventual sale marking a return of more than 20 times the funder’s original investment.
Then in the same sector, Catalyst Corporate Finance advised the shareholders of Exclaimer, the largest global provider of email signature software, on a £23m capital investment package.
Mid-market private equity firm Livingbridge, which has an office in Birmingham, made the investment.
Other advisers on the deal included Ragi Singh at Gowling WLG, who advised the shareholders and Paul Medlicott at Addleshaw Goddard, who advised Livingbridge.
Then there was the purchase of food manufacturer LFI Tollblend by French multi-national LeSaffre for an undisclosed sum.
The gluten-free specialist employs 35 people in Worcester and will join the French group which has 9,000 employees in 40 countries.
Tollblend was advised on the transaction by Justin Sparks, partner at Springboard Corporate Finance, with legal advice provided by Alison Scott from Harrison Clark Rickerbys.
However, in the end it was none of these.
Ending a difficult year on a positive note, the sale of Sutton Coldfield-based lifting equipment specialist Lloyds British Testing out of administration was the ultimate choice.
Not just a good news story for Christmas, the deal – negotiated by administrators PwC in Birmingham – saved the jobs of 200 people.
The eventual purchaser was Cheshire-based Speedy, the tools, equipment and plant hire services company.
It has acquired the brand, business and assets of Lloyds British. The 200 employees will be transferring to the firm from across the existing network of 12 Lloyds British offices.
The deal is expected to complement Speedy’s existing lifting, testing and training businesses and would enhance the firm’s overall offering to its customers.
