Member Article

South Yorkshire deals market kickstarted by two multi-million buy-outs

Sheffield’s Mackenzie Spencer has advised on two multi-million pound buyouts in a month as the South Yorkshire deals market springs into life.

The Sheffield-based advisers worked with legal and banking teams from hlw Keeble Hawson and HSBC to complete the two deals and are predicting a major upturn in corporate finance activity during 2014.

Mackenzie Spencer’s Mark Stanley said: “After five years of limited activity, the funding market is improving. Significantly, some businesses now have two years of solid numbers behind them and that creates the track record to get funding decisions made.

“These two deals demonstrate the quality of businesses in the area and the funds that are available to support these types of transactions. We are already working on our next two deals and we expect the next 12 months to be extremely busy.”

The two deals saw investments into the regional business community by Octopus Investments and Foresight Nottingham Fund.

Countrywide Healthcare Supplies is looking to deliver strong strategic growth after a management buyout. The company, one of the leading national distributors of supplies to the care sector, has secured £2.7 million of investment from Octopus, which is one of the UK’s fastest growing investment management companies specialising in smaller company investing.

Countrywide was established in 1996 and operates from a purpose-built distribution centre in South Yorkshire. The investment will help the company pursue its growth strategy as it looks to become the largest supplier to the UK care sector.

Commenting on the deal, Alastair Kitching, managing director at Countrywide, said: “The quality of the advisers meant we had fantastic support and guidance throughout the deal process and we now look forward to a very exciting future.”

The second deal saw a £1.5 million investment by Foresight Nottingham Fund into Crowle Wharfe Engineers Ltd (CWE), a leading provider of end-to-end engineering solutions for the rail, power, oil and steel industries.

The investment provides the company, which has 50 employees, with development capital to drive growth and job creation. Based in Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, CWE has grown steadily in recent years and, the funding deal will unlock additional capacity.

Paul Trudgill, managing partner at hlw Keeble Hawson, said: “The CWE deal has seen additional funding from both the banking and venture capital market, as well as and injection of external talent into the senior management team.

“Over the last five years it has not been easy to raise finance and expectations have had to adjust to reflect a new funding landscape.

“But we are definitely seeing an upturn, not just in terms of deals but the whole approach of clients to investment and their business. They are exploring new markets and not only raising capital for transactions but also to develop their own business.

“There is a bit of momentum within the economy and that is feeding through to confidence levels for many businesses, particularly in the SME market.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .