Catalyst and Pinsent Masons act on £40m Leadbitter MBO
BIRMINGHAM’S professional and financial services community has successfully acted on the £40m management buy-out of the Leadbitter Group from Heijmans.
Catalyst Corporate Finance, in conjunction with law firm, Pinsent Masons, advised the management team at Leadbitter on the deal.
The Leadbitter Group, which consists of both Leadbitter and Denne, has a turnover approaching £400m and delivers building consultancy service to both the UK Construction and Affordable Housing markets.
In recent years, the business, which has an office in Coventry, has achieved considerable success resulting in it being named as UK Contractor of the Year at the 2009 Building Awards.
The buy-out was led by the founder and current chief executive of Leadbitter Group, Bob Rendell, who has joined forces with Bouygues Construction, a subsidiary of the quoted French group Bouygues, in order to complete the deal.
Richard Sanders, of Catalyst, who led the deal, said: “Whilst it has been a difficult time for many businesses in the construction sector, Leadbitter has demonstrated a great resilience, achieving continued growth across its business.
“We worked closely with the management team over a long period of time to implement a highly innovative deal that provides a sound platform for the future growth of the business.
“This is also another example of our international capability, on this occasion working with our Dutch partner firm Bluemind Corporate Finance to manage a smooth cross border transaction with a Dutch vendor and a French corporate funder.”
Andrew Hornigold, lead partner at Pinsent Masons, said: “We were able to bring our market leading practice in the construction sector together with the strength in depth we have in the corporate market and, given the international nature of the Seller and Bouygues as the investor, our credentials in international transactions, to help deliver a great result.
“It just demonstrates that well run businesses, even in sectors such as construction, can still be attractive to long term investors.”
