Deals round-up: Altium; KBS Corporate & more

INTERNATIONAL investment bank Altium’s Manchester team has advised on the £85m hostile takeover deal which has seen construction services group ISG acquired by US investment group Cathexis.

ISG, previously known as Interior Services Group, provides fit-out, refurbishment, engineering, design and project management services to customers across the world.

Admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market since June 1998, ISG reported 2015 revenues of £1.6bn and a market capitalisation of £85.5m at the offer price.

Based in Houston, Texas and led by chief executive William Harrison, Cathexis has been a significant shareholder in ISG since March 2012.

A team at Altium, led by managing director Stephen Georgiadis, director Tim Richardson and associate Declan O’Connor, acted as exclusive financial adviser to Cathexis on the deal. This was the fourth UK public company takeover that the investment bank has advised on in the last 12 months.

Georgiadis said: “We are delighted to have assisted Cathexis in consolidating its control of ISG. The stability provided by the commitment of a well-funded reference shareholder like Cathexis should ensure a strong and promising future for ISG.”

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BOLTON-based KBS Corporate Finance has advised construction compliance company, HCD Group, which has an office in Manchester,  on its sale to French group, Bureau Veritas.

Cardiff company HCD Group specialises in building control approved inspector services. It has nine offices across the UK and has a turnover of £8m.

Julian Coy, managing director at KBS Corporate said interest in the business was high, with a number of overseas acquirers looking at HCD.
“On virtually all of our deals we are now seeing foreign interest in UK SMEs. In the case of HCD, we attracted interest from many different European firms, all of whom were looking for a foundation investment in the UK. Looking forward, the weakening pound coupled with the continued growth in the UK economy is producing perfect conditions for sustained overseas investment into the UK.”
 
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A BIN lorry manufacturer Dennis Eagle has been acquired in a major international takeover deal funded by a syndicate of European banks.

The deal sees Dutch-based Terberg, a long established fourth generation family owned business with operations in Warrington, acquire Spanish group RosRoca Environmental – a major European manufacturer of refuse collection vehicles and parent of Dennis Eagle.
 
The newly-formed group will merge the existing Terberg environmental companies with RosRoca and the combined business will be headquartered in Warwickshire.

The merged company will have annual revenues of approximately £300m (€385m), together with a combined workforce of 1,300 employees.
 
The existing UK businesses of the two groups – Dennis Eagle of Warwick and Terberg Matec UK of Warrington and Worksop are being brought together, having enjoyed a commercial relationship for many years.

The funding provided by the banking group, which includes Barclays, will enable the future growth of the two UK businesses and support new product development.

Commenting on the acquisition, George Terberg, chairman of the Terberg managing board said: “This merger will allow us to share our technological expertise and enhance our market leading position in the UK market.”

Andrew Budenberg, relationship director at Barclays, said: “We have been following the progress of Dennis Eagle for some time and this acquisition by Terberg provides an exciting opportunity for the merged businesses to achieve further growth and unlock considerable operational synergies in the period to come.”
 
The bank syndicate was organised by Dutch Banks ING and NIBC, Spanish Bank BBVA and Barclays.
 

 

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