Deals round-up: Pinsents; Altium; Shoosmiths

LAW firm Pinsent Masons acted on two significant private equity deals, which it says are reflective of an upward trend in regional PE deals.

The firm advised Inflexion on its investment in oil and gas services company PD&MS, while also acting for Lancashire toiler paper maker Accrol on its deal witth NorthEdge.

Head of private equity at Pinsent Masons Gregg Davison and senior associate James Fitzgibbon led a team advising PD&MS on its sale while corporate partner Helen Ridge and senior associate Andy Philips advised Accrol.

Gregg Davison, said:”Deal activity is driven by good businesses. With well over a dozen private equity firms headquartered in the region and many more investing into businesses here, it is clear that the North West has become a hub for this type of deal activity.”

Last month Davison led a team advising ISIS Equity Partners on the £45m secondary buyout of Manchester-based high speed broadband company Metronet.

“Recent deal flow is a positive sign for the North West and the UK as whole. We are indeed confident that we will continue to see a steady flow of investment from the private equity sector continue throughout the year.”

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ADRIAN Reed, the Manchester-based managing director and head of energy, waste and renewables at investment bank Altium has advised AIM-listed client Alkane Energy on a £12.1m acquisition.

Mr Reed was assisted by Adam Sivner and analyst Tom Battersby on what was Altium’s fourth deal for the power generation business over the last three years.
 
It is also Altium’s 17th in the energy waste and renewables sector, bringing the value of transactions to £1.2bn.
 
Mr Reed, pictured, said: “We’re pleased to have acted on behalf of Alkane once again and are delighted to have developed a long standing relationship with the management team over the years. The latest power generation assets will further boost the scale of the group by an additional 49MW of power response.”

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THE Manchester corporate team at law firm Shoosmiths advised Scientific Analysis Laboratories and Resource and Environmental Consultants (REC) shareholders on their sale to new Manchester-based
scientific laboratory and consultancy business Concept Life Sciences in a deal worth $100m.

The businesses were acquired by Concept Life Sciences after investment was secured by private equity firm Equistone.

Shoosmiths’ corporate partner, Kieran Toal, commented: “We are delighted to have acted for the shareholders of SAL and REC on what was a complex and challenging transaction and for the Shoosmiths corporate team in Manchester to demonstrate its capability with a significant role in a fantastic local market deal.”