£16m loan will drive next stage of growth for software specialist
Software Circle, formerly Grafenia, has secured a £16.7m loan facility from Shawbrook bank to drive its next stage of growth.
The Manchester-based vertical market software acquirer was looking to finance the redemption of its existing bond facilities to simplify the group’s capital structure and provide capital for M and A opportunities in the future.
Shawbrook structured a flexible package to enable the bond redemption and provide the additional capital for the client’s growth plans.
Software Circle has completed seven acquisitions to date across the UK and Ireland.
Set up more than 20 years ago, the software specialist initiated its buy and build programme in 2022 with an aim to expand its portfolio and product offering while enabling business owners to fulfil their exit strategies.
Software Circle’s strategy is to keep the independent operational set-up, management teams, entrepreneurial spirit and culture of each business it acquires.
Gavin Cockerill, Software Circle CEO, said: “Our M and A pipeline remains healthy. We intend to deploy our currently available capital before utilising the debt facility which further extends our financial runway, enabling us to pursue additional M and A opportunities.
“We are committed to maintaining our disciplined approach to acquisitions, ensuring that each addition is aligned with our culture, enhances our overall value proposition, supports our long term objectives including our primary financial goal of maximising Operating Cash Flow Per Share.”
He added, “We are thrilled to partner with Shawbrook in securing these loan facilities. This financial arrangement not only enables us to repay our existing bonds, it also provides us with additional capital to pursue our acquisition strategy efficiently. We believe this will drive significant growth and value creation for our business and shareholders too.”
Tony Dean, Senior Director at Shawbrook, said: “The deal team took significant time to truly understand the overall objectives of the business and ongoing acquisition strategy.
“I like to think that this approach and our own team’s expertise enabled us to structure a solution that will provide the flexibility and certainty for the business to continue to deliver on their growth ambitions”.
Pinsent Masons acted as legal counsel and MHA conducted financial due diligence for Shawbrook.
