£300m deals for Grant Thornton’s NW team

The Grant Thornton corporate finance lead advisory team

Business advisor Grant Thornton’s North West corporate finance lead advisory team is celebrating a milestone year.

The team specialises in advising growing mid-market companies and entrepreneurial management teams on mergers, acquisitions and investment deals.

And it has advised on 10 deals, worth more than £300m, in the 12 months to the end of June.

Operating across the region with offices in Manchester and Liverpool, the team said their stand-out North West deals include advising stock market listed home improvement products company Norcros on a £60m strategic acquisition of a business in the Irish Republic, and the sale of Foresight private-equity backed facilities management company Thermotech to acquisitive global facilities management group Atalian Servest.

Others include advising leading mid-market private equity investor LDC on its investment in Cumbria-based cottage lettings business Lakelovers, the £16.5m sale of Salford-based e-commerce cloud hosting specialist Sonassi to AIM-listed Iomart, the sale of Rochdale company EU Fire & Security, and the acquisition of Cheshire-based Healthcare Communications by a listed group for £15m.

Partner Peter Terry, head of the North West team, said he is delighted with the achievements in his first full year at the firm: “It’s been a great year for Grant Thornton.

“I inherited a great team here and it has been a privilege to work with them on some fantastic deals.

“We believe this level of activity is market-leading in the North West, and the team has worked on a range of deals across private equity, sell side and corporate buy-side.

“The outlook for next year and beyond looks really positive. We have seen, and continue to see, strong levels of confidence from investors, be they private equity firms looking to back strong management teams with a compelling growth opportunity, listed companies, or overseas trade buyers looking for strategic acquisitions.”

The team has attracted a range of favourable comments from clients, including from Mark Walsh, one of the founders of EU Fire & Security, who said: “The deal team at Grant Thornton have been excellent, providing pragmatic solutions in sensitive situations.

“Their understanding of our objectives and culture has been evident and we really appreciate their support and advice.”

Ged Gould, senior director at LDC’s Manchester office said: “The advice and expertise provided by the team was invaluable and we hope to work with Grant Thornton again in the future.”

The Grant Thornton corporate finance lead advisory team comprises Peter Terry, Matthew Bryden-Smith, Gemma Hardy, Joe Pollard, Chris Ryan, Daniel Brecker, Jacob Leone, Brad Seekings and Cariad Mudford.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close