North West lawyers involved in major acquisitions

Three North West law firms have advised in multimillion-pound corporate deals.

National law firm Weightmans has advised NYSE-listed global packaging company, Sonoco, on its acquisition in the UK of Plastique Holdings.

The purchase formed part of a wider deal also involving the acquisition in the US of Thermoform Engineered Quality by Sonoco.

Thermoform and Plastique – together TEQ – were acquired from former owners ESCO Technologies Inc.

TEQ is a global manufacturer serving the healthcare, medical device and consumer markets with thermoformed packaging.

The combined deal value of $187m makes it one of the largest corporate transactions involving North West advisors this year.

Corporate partner, Paul Raftery, based in Weightmans’ Manchester office, advised Sonoco Products on its acquisition in the UK.

He said: “This was a material and strategic acquisition by Sonoco in line with its stated growth ambitions in the medical products packaging sector.

“We were delighted once again to have been engaged by them to advise, in this instance, on the UK-specific acquisition, drawing on expertise from across the business.”

Additional team members who supported Paul included Cath Hendy, Barry Riley, Laurence Pritchard, Haroon Younis and Maxine Buckton.

Mills & Reeve has advised listed French IT server manufacturer 2CRSi on its acquisition of a 70% stake in UK-based Boston Limited, as part of its international expansion.

Mills & Reeve acted alongside FIDAL, the largest law firm in France, on the acquisition for an undisclosed sum.

The two firms have a formal affiliation and the similarities between them mean they regularly work together to provide clients with advice that serves their interests both in the UK, France and beyond.

Boston, which is based in St Albans, is a global player in the integration, sales and marketing of IT equipment that uses the most advanced technology on the market.

Founded in 1992, Boston employs 170 staff and generated consolidated revenues of £89.5m in its 2018-2019 financial year.

It operates in 40 countries, including Germany, Australia, South Africa, India and Russia. The acquisition, which has brought together 2CRSi’s design and manufacturing expertise and Boston’s value-added distribution and systems integration know-how, has broadened 2CRSi’s international operations and further strengthened the companies’ long-standing relationship.

Alain Wilmouth, founder, chairman and CEO of 2CRSi, said: “This transaction is the result of a great deal of work together, based on mutual trust, longstanding relationships and shared values based on an unyielding drive to achieve performance and innovation. This acquisition marks a key milestone for our group: Today, 2CRSi is changing dimension and is considerably enhancing its development potential.”

2CRSi is based in Strasbourg and has subsidiaries in Manchester, Dubai and San Jose in the Silicon Valley.

It specialises in the design and manufacturing of very high-performance IT servers and has around 200 clients in 25 countries. In 2018, 2CRSi generated consolidated revenues of €65.2m.

Mills & Reeve partner, Chris Ross, who led the team which included fellow partner Kevin Lowe, Alex Kenworthy and Nina Latham, plus FIDAL’s Strasbourg-based corporate partner Ludovic Gloeckler, said: “2CRSI is looking to extend its global reach and Boston fits perfectly with that strategy.

Chris Ross

“The two companies have excellent synergies and their complementary skills of sales and marketing, and technical expertise will create an enlarged group that will be a major force in the sector. This is the second deal we have completed for 2CRSI and a great example of the firm acting for an international business in the technology sector.”

Meanwhile, the corporate department at Davis Blank Furniss has acted for Manchester-based HFL Consulting on its sale to SLR, which is a global leader in environmental and advisory solutions. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

HFL Consulting offers leadership, management, consulting, engineering and training services to businesses of all sizes across the process industries, including those in the oil and gas, chemicals, polymer, pharmaceutical, healthcare, waste and allied sectors.

It also delivers a comprehensive set of services to promote safety and efficiency in design, operation, maintenance, modification and decommissioning of complex hazardous facilities, as well as training courses across a number of different platforms.

The HFL Consulting team will join SLR’s Europe business, led by Alan Edwards, which will now be 450 strong with 22 offices. SLR also has operations in North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa.

The team at Davis Blank Furniss advised HFL Consulting on all aspects of the transaction including legal due diligence and transactional matters.

The team, which included Shiva Shadi (partner) and Lauren Sever (solicitor), was led by Sonio Singh who is a partner and head of the corporate department.

Sonio Singh

Neil Penhall, SLR’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to bring HFL’s capabilities into SLR. We believe the team’s complementary technical offering and market-leading reputation will help us to progress our growth plans and continue to provide world-class solutions and advice to our clients.”

Julian Hought, HFL’s managing director, added: “We feel we have found a superb fit with our and SLR’s service offerings and look forward to being part of a comprehensive, integrated team.”

Sonio Singh said: “We were delighted to help the senior HFL Consulting team in the sale of the business to SLR. It is fantastic news and it will be exciting to see how the company develops and grows over the coming years.”