Grant Thornton’s North West corporate finance lead advisory team, which specialises in advising growing mid-market companies and entrepreneurial management teams on mergers, acquisitions and investment deals, is celebrating a milestone year.
The team, which operates across the region with offices in Manchester and Liverpool, has advised on 10 deals worth more than £300m in the 12 months to the end of June.
Stand-out North West deals include:
- advising stock market listed home improvement products company Norcros Plc on a £60m strategic acquisition of a business in the Irish Republic;
- the sale of Foresight private-equity backed facilities management company Thermotech to acquisitive global facilities management group Atalian Servest;
- Advising leading mid-market private equity investor LDC on its investment in Cumbria-based cottage lettings business Lakelovers
- the £16.5m sale of Salford-based e-commerce cloud hosting specialist Sonassi to AIM-listed Iomart;
- the sale of Rochdale company EU Fire & Security and
- the acquisition of Cheshire-based Healthcare Communications by a listed group for £15m.
Partner Peter Terry, head of the North West team, said he is “delighted“ with the achievements in his first full year at the firm.
He said: “It’s been a great year for Grant Thornton. I inherited a great team here and it has been a privilege to work with them on some fantastic deals.
“We believe this level of activity is market leading in the North West, and the team has worked on a range of deals across private equity, sell side and corporate buy-side.
“The outlook for next year and beyond looks really positive .We have seen, and continue to see strong levels of confidence from investors, be they private equity firms looking to back strong management teams with a compelling growth opportunity, listed companies or overseas trade buyers looking for strategic acquisitions.”
Mark Walsh, one of the founders of EU Fire & Security, commented: “The deal team at Grant Thornton have been excellent, providing pragmatic solutions in sensitive situations. Their understanding of our objectives and culture has been evident and we really appreciate their support and advice.”
Ged Gould, Senior Director at LDC’s Manchester office stated: “We are grateful to the Grant Thornton team for supporting us throughout the transaction and helping execute a deal that provides a great outcome for all parties involved. The advice and expertise provided by the team was invaluable and we hope to work with Grant Thornton again in the future.”
Mike Cunningham, Managing Director of Healthcare Communications UK said: “The Grant Thornton team played a pivotal role throughout the transaction and their knowledge and expertise in the sector resulted in us finding the right buyer. They demonstrated resilience and tenacity during the process and provided excellent advice at all times and ultimately delivered a fantastic result.”
Dave Prendergast, CEO of Thermotech added: “We are absolutely delighted with the efforts
and professionalism of Grant Thornton in successfully navigating this transaction to completion.”
The GT corporate finance lead advisory team comprises: Peter Terry, Matthew Bryden-Smith, Gemma Hardy, Joe Pollard, Chris Ryan Daniel Brecker, Jacob Leone, Brad Seekings and Cariad Mudford.
