Selling your business is typically a “once in a lifetime” event for many business owners. Therefore, choosing to work with a high-quality, trusted advisor with a proven track record of delivering successful outcomes and maximising shareholder value, is a hugely important decision. Typically, the advisor of choice will either be a Corporate Finance Advisor or a Business Broker. Many business owners will be familiar with the term “Broker” but are unclear on how the role of a Corporate Finance Advisor differs, and how they can add value when selling your business. What is the role of a Broker? As ..read more

Global M&A markets have endured a difficult year, and European dealmaking has been no exception. Rising interest rates, high energy costs and geopolitical uncertainty have been just a few of the myriad challenges facing corporate and private equity dealmakers in recent months. The full report drills down into the details of last year’s M&A markets and explores the outlook for 2023. Through the rest of 2023 and into 2024, several structural and strategic drivers will be at play in the European M&A market: Corporate divestitures Tougher macroeconomic conditions are pushing companies ..read more

We recently caught up with our newly appointed transitional services partner Rob Dawes to learn a little more about his influences and what he will bring to the firm within his role. We first ask him what he is looking forward too about the challenge ahead? Rob says: “It’s an exciting time for the firm which is growing rapidly with a number of new partners being brought into Manchester and across the firm. “From my own personal perspective I’m looking forward to putting together a team that can work alongside our successful corporate finance team to offer a specialised due diligence service to ..read more

In shareholder-managed businesses, the typical exit route to enable the owner-managers to retire or move on to something new is to sell their shares. Preparing for this eventuality is critical to ensure you and your business are “transaction-ready”. However far into the future, a disposal transaction may be contemplated. What do I need to do to be transaction-ready? It is essential that you work towards making your business as attractive as possible to a potential acquirer. Important considerations include: Recruit and fully integrate an experienced and high-quality senior leadership team; Ma ..read more

A Management Buy-Out (“MBO”) may arise whereby a business owner is looking to realise the value created through their ownership or where a group of companies want to sell a subsidiary or division of a business to the incumbent Management Team.   In both cases, the existing Management Team would have extensive knowledge and experience of running the business on a day-to-day basis and therefore could be a viable option for the shareholders to sell to them.  What is a Management Buy-Out?  In the most simplistic terms, a Management Buy-out (MBO) is where an existing Management ..read more

Our corporate finance team has advised on a deal that has seen a high-growth field service management software provider acquired by a specialist software investor. Our team has advised the shareholders of Depotnet on its sale to Everfield, an acquisition company which helps founder-led software businesses reach their next level of growth and innovation. Depotnet’s field service management software enables companies in the telecoms, utilities and infrastructure sectors to manage functions including job management, reinstatement, commercial management, conducting audits and inspections, and mana ..read more

Our Corporate Finance team has been shortlisted for FOUR award categories at the 2023 Insider North West Dealmakers Awards this year. The awards include: Mid-Market Corporate Finance Team Of The Year which is for the corporate finance team in the region which has had the most outstanding year for mid-market deals averaging under £50m. Deal of the Year (sub £10 million) which is for the standout regional-led deal with a transaction size of £10m or less involving the buying, selling or growing of a regional business. In this instance, it was for our deal involving KCA Holdings £5 ..read more

With the series of shocks impacting the national and global economy over the last 2-3 years, business owners could be forgiven for assuming that the macroeconomic pressures would feed through to a significantly more challenging M&A environment, and that now would not be a good time to embark on a transaction of any form. However, the data on recent M&A transactions and a review of Global M&A activity by Baker Tilly International, produced in conjunction with Mergermarket suggests a more optimistic view, with significant opportunities continuing to exist and evidence that businesses ..read more

Our corporate finance team has advised Tristone Healthcare – the independent buy and build investment group – on another acquisition that extends its footprint in the social care sector. The acquisition of South West Intervention Services Ltd (SWIS) – which is headquartered in Buckfastleigh – will broaden Tristone’s geographical reach, as well as adding new specialisms to the investor’s expanding portfolio. The corporate finance team provided deal advisory, financial and tax due diligence to Tristone Healthcare on the transaction. SWIS provides bespoke learning packages to young people who may ..read more

Andrew Feeke, Corporate Finance Partner, scooped the top accolade at last night’s North West Rainmaker Awards at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. The North West Rainmaker Awards are a celebration of the corporate finance sector and help to celebrate the best deals and teams over the past 12 months with an awards ceremony voted for by the corporate finance dealmaking community themselves. The top award on the night is the ‘Rainmaker Award’ with tough competition for this prize from firms including EY, TDC, Houlihan Lokey and Grant Thornton. On winning the award Andrew said: “No one was more su ..read more