Welcome to your weekly round up of deals from around the country.

Frasers Group has added a little more luxury to its shopping list, acquiring Harvey Nichols out of administration as it looks to reshape the long-established department store.

But first a reminder, this is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get at least two unique pieces a week, one in the summer, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

Frasers has bought the business and assets of Harvey Nichols from FTI Consulting for an undisclosed sum, including six UK stores, its online operation, stock and more than 1,000 employees.

The deal covers Harvey Nichols sites in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Edinburgh, as well as its international franchise agreements. Selected assets at the Dublin store are also included, while discussions over the future of the site continue.

The OXO restaurant has been left off the menu, having been sold to another buyer.

Frasers said Harvey Nichols had endured “sustained trading and operational challenges” and that a significant restructuring would be needed to return the business to profit.

That means the luxury retailer could be in for some designer downsizing, with Frasers reviewing its store estate, organisational structure, operating model and cost base.

Michael Murray, chief executive of Frasers Group, said: “Harvey Nichols is an iconic British institution with significant potential, but it is clear meaningful change is needed.

“The turnaround will require tough choices, and we are prepared to make those decisions, even if that means a smaller business in the near term, to create a stronger and more sustainable Harvey Nichols for the long term.

“By integrating Harvey Nichols into our existing luxury ecosystem, we believe Frasers Group can deliver the expertise, infrastructure and commitment needed to give the business the best chance of long-term success.”

The acquisition adds another big-name label to Frasers’ wardrobe, alongside luxury businesses including Flannels, The Webster and HULCAN’s MILE.

Harvey Nichols dates back almost 200 years and stocks more than 800 premium and luxury brands, including Gucci, Moncler, Burberry, Prada and Dior.

The deal ends 35 years of ownership by Hong Kong businessman Sir Dickson Poon and hands Frasers another high-profile turnaround project.

Harvey Nichols chief executive Julia Goddard said: “Today marks an important milestone for Harvey Nichols and provides a strong platform for the next phase of the business’s evolution under the ownership of Frasers Group.

“Over the past year, we have made significant progress in repositioning this iconic business, investing in our flagship store, broadening our customer proposition, and strengthening the brand DNA.”

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Funktion Leisure has joined the party, acquiring Bath-based Groupia and its GoHen and StagWeb brands out of administration.

The deal brings the hen and stag travel specialists into the Chester-based group behind Funktion Events, an ABTA-bonded operator that has been arranging group events, corporate trips and pre-wedding blowouts since 2007.

Groupia entered administration in June, bringing the party to an abrupt end after 24 years in business.

More than 750,000 travellers have booked through its brands since launch, giving Funktion a sizeable customer base to work with as it plots the next stage of growth.

And there is no need to RSVP: both GoHen and StagWeb are already back up and taking bookings.

Jay Broughton, managing director of Funktion Leisure, said: “GoHen and StagWeb have been two of the best-known names in UK group travel since 2002, with more than 750,000 customers between the Groupia brands. Our priority has been straightforward: get both brands running again quickly, look after customers, and build on what made them work.”

The acquisition gives the brands a new home within an established group, with booking operations restored and further investment planned.

Funktion said it will put money into both businesses over the coming months, with more details to follow.

For now, it looks like the stag has been saved, the hens are back in the nest, and the party can carry on.

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A merger between Manchester-based telecoms and broadband supplier, TalkTalk Business, and ARO, a Liverpool-based technology services provider, will create one of the UK’s largest independent connectivity and managed technology services providers.

TalkTalk Business completed its demerger from the wider Talk Talk Group in February this year, to operate as a fully independent managed network service provider.

In April it leased 10,472 sq ft of office space in Building 1 at Exchange Quay in Manchester on a seven-year lease, relocating its 136-strong team from its former Soapworks base in Salford.

With approximately 650 employees, annual revenues of around £180m and a combined customer base of more than 70,000 organisations, the new group will be uniquely positioned to help organisations accelerate their digital ambitions through a single trusted technology partner.

Ruth Kennedy, CEO of TalkTalk Business, said: “This merger represents another important step in our transformation into a leading managed services provider and brings together two highly complementary businesses to create a leading independent technology partner for UK organisations.”

The merger brings together leading expertise in connectivity, cloud, cyber security and managed IT services to create a major new force in the UK technology market.

The companies say combining ARO’s strengths in cloud, cyber security and managed IT services with TalkTalk Business’s established expertise in connectivity, networking and communications creates a broader end-to-end technology proposition for customers across the UK.

For ARO, the merger represents an opportunity to extend its impact as part of a larger organisation with expanded capabilities, greater scale and increased capacity for investment, enabling it to support customers with an even broader range of technology solutions.

For TalkTalk Business, the merger marks another significant milestone in its evolution into a managed technology services provider following its separation from TalkTalk Group.

It builds on the recent acquisition of Planet IT and brings together complementary expertise that further strengthens its ability to support customers with integrated connectivity, cloud, cyber security and managed IT services.

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Newton Property Management has acquired Aberdeenshire-based PMC Property Management, strengthening its presence in the north east to approximately 17,000 properties in the area.

PMC Property Management will continue to trade under its existing brand, supported by Newton’s operational resources.

Co-owner Neale Bisset will join Newton, while his fellow co-owner Annette Hudson is retiring.

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Having now completed the Rainmaker events in the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire, we have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

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Sheryl Moore looks at how the transport technology group Tracsis has delivered on years of strategic promises with decisive action, buying rail software specialist Mistral Data while selling a services-led business that no longer fits its plans.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week (one in summer), but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and sector insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

Leeds transport technology group Tracsis has stopped talking about transformation and started delivering it.

Within the space of a week, the AIM-listed business agreed its biggest acquisition in years, paying £48m for rail software specialist Mistral Data, before selling its Events Transport Planning and Management business for £7.25m.

One deal brings in exactly the kind of recurring software revenues the company has spent years pursuing. The other removes a profitable but services-led business that no longer fits the direction of travel.

Individually, they are significant transactions. Together, they demonstrate that Tracsis is accelerating a strategy first outlined several years ago – one that will leave the business looking very different from the company it was when David Frost took over as chief executive in 2023.

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Welcome to your weekly round up of deals from around the country.

Bodycote is the latest UK industrial business to attract the attention of US private equity investors, but first we delve into what’s behind Peel’s bid for Harworth group.

But first a reminder, This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get at least two unique pieces a week, one in the summer, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

Regeneration specialist Harworth Group has become the target of a £583m takeover bid from Manchester-based Peel Holdings.

The audacious bid consisted of a cash offer for Harworth through Peel Pepper (UK), valuing the company at approximately £582.9m.

However, following Peel’s stock market announcement on Thursday, Harworth’s response was to review the terms and urged shareholders to take no action.”

The offer values Harworth shares at 172.5p each – a premium of 20.1% to Wednesday’s closing price and 36% above the company’s three-month volume-weighted average share price.

But alongside the financial offer, Peel has also signalled plans for a wide-ranging strategic review that could reshape one of Yorkshire’s best-known regeneration businesses.

So what’s behind it?

According to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould enthusiasm for all matters related to artificial intelligence (AI) may be one factor behind the takeover offer.

“One land sale back in 2024 to Microsoft showed that Harworth had assets that were suitable for the development of a hyperscaler data centre, and the FTSE 250 index member has identified a second project where sale negotiations have already commenced. Perhaps it was this news that focused Peel Group’s mind, and the share price has shot up to match the all-cash offer price of 172.5p in response.”

He added that there’s also something of a realignment going on in UK real estate where plenty of investors clearly see long-term value in British brick and mortar.

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Any Bodycote shareholders that cashed out in a share buyback programme at 700p will be kicking themselves this week as the stock hit 900p after two US private equity bidders made generous cash offers for the Macclesfield, Cheshire headquartered heat processor.

Both private equity offers value the company at around £1.6bn. The business was valued at £1.56bn on current share trading.

Responding to speculation regarding potential offers, it confirmed CVC Advisers has proposed an offer of up to 915p per share, including a 7.2p interim dividend.

The board revealed that the CVC proposal follows earlier approaches from CVC regarding a possible cash offer.

And Veritas Capital Fund IX has proposed an approach of up to 914p per share, also including the 7.2p interim dividend.

Again, Bodycote says the Veritas proposal follows a number of earlier approaches regarding a possible cash offer.

The Bodycote board said it has carefully considered both proposals and would be minded to recommend them to shareholders, subject to satisfactory due diligence and definitive documentation.

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A Market Harborough manufacturer is putting a new spin on an old family business after completing a management buyout backed by seven-figure HSBC UK funding.

Harboro Rubber has changed hands after six generations, with managing director Michael Fallis-Taylor taking full ownership from James Briggs.

The business, which makes specialist rubber components and the Dainite shoe sole brand, is now looking to stretch its growth further through R&D, new products and investment in manufacturing technology.

Fallis-Taylor said: “Having spent the last eight years helping to shape its growth, I’ve seen first-hand the dedication of our people, strength of our partnerships and the reputation we’ve built.

“Taking ownership allows us to write the next chapter in a remarkable six-generation story, combining the heritage, craftsmanship and values that have stood the test of time with a bold vision for the future.”

HSBC UK backed the deal, with relationship manager Sophia Woods saying: “It’s fantastic to support Harboro Rubber through this milestone moment. The business has an incredible 130-year history, and it’s exciting to see that legacy being carried forward by a team that is passionate about its future.”

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A Midlands accountancy firm is adding to its regional reach after joining forces with a Tamworth rival, bringing more expertise and services under one roof.

Jerroms has merged with the Tamworth office of Philip Barnes Accountants, strengthening its support for small and medium-sized businesses.

The move sees the two firms combine their local knowledge and client relationships, while giving customers access to a wider range of specialist advice through the wider Sumer Group.

Philip Barnes’ Uttoxeter office will also join fellow Sumer member DPC as part of the reshuffle.

Lucas Markou, director at Jerroms said: “Welcoming the Philip Barnes Tamworth team into Jerroms marks an exciting step for both firms. Their strong local reputation and client-first approach align closely with our own values, and together we’ll be able to offer an even broader range of services and specialist support. This partnership strengthens our presence in the region and reinforces our commitment to delivering high-quality advice with genuine local insight.”

John Clark, director at Philip Barnes’ Tamworth office said: “Joining Jerroms gives our Tamworth clients access to wider specialist capability while allowing us to maintain the personal, local service they value. This partnership is a natural next step in our growth, and we’re excited about the opportunities it creates for our clients and our team.”

With the numbers adding up, the firms say the deal will combine local relationships with the wider resources of Sumer – giving Midlands businesses more in their advice column.

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Television presenter Nick Knowles has become a shareholder in Championship rugby side Cornish Pirates.

The presenter, best known for shows such as DIY SOS and National Lottery: Who Dares Wins, is the latest person to join the club’s ownership group.

Pirates became the first English professional side to have American ownership when Pittsburgh-based Stonewood Capital Management took a stake in May.

Sally Pettipher, chief executive of Cornish Pirates, told BBC Sport: “This investment, becoming a shareholder, is him putting some skin in the game and bringing with him his rugby heritage. He’s got a rugby brain, he’s got a rugby background, he’s well connected in that world, he does an awful lot of philanthropy in that world and he brings visibility to us, which I think is really important.”

She added: “He’s Cornish by choice. There’s a spirit to the place that gets under your skin and he’s been an ambassador for Cornish Pirates for over a season now already, he’s in the crowd and people don’t know.”

The club has been looking for more investment since long-serving owner Sir Dicky Evans’ near three-decade association with the club ended in January 2025.

Cornish Pirates’ ownership is now a mix of their United States-based investors and a group of shareholders.

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Having now completed the Rainmaker events in the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire, we have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

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Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

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Selling to an employee ownership trust (EOT) has become a popular and effective method of succession planning since they were introduced 16 years ago.

But a change to their Capital Gains Tax (CGT) treatment introduced last November has pushed down the number of inquiries about EOTs received by advisors, resulting in a fall in deals completed.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week (one in summer), but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and sector insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

So are EOTs still a viable alternative to a more traditional sale?

If the business owners are motivated purely by maximum tax avoidance, then it’s time to ditch any thought of an EOT and stick to a traditional trade sale.

Read more

Welcome to your weekly round up of deals from around the country.

BP is marketing its North Sea business for a potential sale.

But first a reminder, This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get at least two unique pieces a week, one in the summer, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

BP’s decision forms part of an ongoing portfolio review and reflects its “disciplined approach to capital allocation”, in service of creating a “simpler, stronger and more valuable company”.

The portfolio comprises five production hubs - two in the central North Sea and three west of Shetland - employing approximately 1,100 people.

“The North Sea remains integral to the UK’s energy system,” stated chief executive Meg O’Neill. “However, as we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company.”

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Who doesn’t love a management buy-in?

International private equity real estate fund, DBL Capital has completed a management buy-in (MBI) of Stockport-based online homeware retailer Home Space Direct.

The deal includes a six-figure investment from NPIF II-FW Capital Debt Finance, which is managed by FW Capital as part of The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).

The transaction was also supported by additional funding from LGC Industries to invest in and grow the online e-commerce part of the Home Space Direct business.

The NPIF II-FW Capital funding has also provided working capital to support the business as it enters its next phase of growth.

This includes streamlining the company’s supply chain and digital infrastructure from its Stockport base, alongside expanding its product offering, including its core homeware portfolio of bedding, curtains and soft furnishings.

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FirstGroup has agreed the sale of Mistral Data Services to Tracsis for £48m.

The wholly-owned subsidiary was established to develop software solutions integrate data – including customer-facing websites and apps – from multiple train operating companies and control centres.

Revenues have grown from around £7m in 2022 to circa £13m in 2026, with operating profit of about £4m.

“The sale proceeds will further strengthen our balance sheet, supporting continued growth in attractive UK bus and rail markets and meaningful returns to our shareholders,” said chief executive Graham Sutherland.

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Swedish bathroom giant FM Mattsson has turned on the taps with the acquisition of Tamworth-based Bristan Group, the UK’s biggest brassware supplier.

Bristan, which generated £63m in revenue over the past year and employs around 280 people, supplies taps and showers to installers, specifiers, wholesalers and retailers across the UK.

The deal gives FM Mattsson’s UK and Ireland business a fresh flush, adding Bristan to its existing Aqualla brand and strengthening its foothold in one of Europe’s biggest bathroom and kitchen mixer markets.

Chief executive Fredrik Skarp said Bristan’s market-leading position bolsters the group’s international ambitions, while Bristan will continue to flow as a standalone, brand-led business under its existing management team.

DSW partner Harry Walker led the advisory team, supported by associate director Daniel Choucino, with legal advice from TLT LLP, tax support from Claritas, commercial due diligence by CIL, W&I insurance broking from Virtus Insurance Solutions and debt financing from Nordea. Masco Corporation was advised by Lincoln International on the sale, with Deloitte providing vendor financial due diligence.

Walker said it was a privilege to help bring together the leading brassware suppliers in the Nordics and the UK, adding that the cultural and commercial fit was clear from the outset.

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Tavistock Investments has acquired an 87.9% stake in Plus Group of Companies, a provider of AI agent technology and paraplanning services to financial advisory firms.

The initial consideration is £900,000 in cash, with a further £3.6m payable in cash over the next 18 months. Additional deferred consideration of up to £11.5m in cash may become payable over four years, subject to agreed performance criteria.

Plus Group recorded turnover of just under £1m and profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of around £340,000 in the year to 30 September 2025.

Based in Liverpool Plus supports financial advisers behind the scenes providing practical support across paraplanning, admin, client servicing, LOA chasing, and cashflow modelling.

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Derbyshire’s Dri-Pak is cleaning up after securing a sparkling £1.843m funding package from HSBC UK to scrub up production across its Nottingham and Manchester sites.

The investment will bankroll a new 100,000 sq ft Nottingham packing facility, complete with automated packing lines, new machinery and equipment for manufacturing its salt-based cleaning products.

Leasehold improvements and the installation of eight new bulk storage tanks are also in the mix, helping the business double production capacity while polishing up supply chain flexibility.

Meanwhile, Dri-Pak’s historic Manchester site - where Soda Crystals have been made since 1823 – is getting a fresh coat of automation, with new production lines and packaging equipment set to boost output by around 15% and wipe away capacity constraints.

The upgrades will also help the company achieve British Retail Consortium (BRC) accreditation, strengthening ties with major supermarket retailers.

Demand continues to bubble up for Dri-Pak’s naturally derived staples, including Soda Crystals, White Vinegar and Bicarbonate of Soda, as consumers swap specialist cleaners for simpler household heroes.

Group managing director Robert Fenton said the HSBC UK backing marks a major milestone, enabling Dri-Pak to expand production, strengthen UK manufacturing, meet growing demand and build on more than 200 years of heritage while continuing to innovate.

HSBC UK relationship manager Daniel Williams said consumers increasingly value products that are simple, versatile and built to last, adding that the bank is proud to support Dri-Pak’s continued growth.

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Security and surveillance technology business, Synectics, has secured a $2.4m/£1.8m contract to provide its Synergy security and surveillance platform for a major casino on the US West Coast.

The Sheffield-based business said this represents a significant new customer win in the strategically important North American gaming market.

Synergy will provide the casino with a single, unified solution to manage its security and surveillance operations.

The platform will provide enhanced situational awareness, enabling security teams to identify potential threats earlier, respond more quickly and consistently to incidents, and make better-informed operational decisions.

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Having now completed the Rainmaker events in the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire, we have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

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Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Private equity is becoming an increasingly important force in the future of UK healthcare, with investors putting billions of pounds into hospitals, diagnostics businesses, specialist providers, digital platforms and care services. Ellie Hollinshead reports.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and sector insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

The growing presence of private capital comes at a time when healthcare organisations face some of the biggest challenges in decades.

Rising demand, an ageing population, workforce shortages and the need for major investment in technology and infrastructure are putting pressure on both public and private providers.

For supporters, private equity investment provides much-needed funding and expertise at a time when healthcare businesses need to modernise and expand. For critics, however, the increasing role of investors raises questions about whether financial returns can be balanced with the long-term needs of patients.

The debate is no longer about whether private capital has a role in healthcare. It already does. The bigger question facing operators, regulators and policymakers is what that role should look like - and what safeguards are needed to ensure investment improves services rather than simply extracts value.

Private equity firms have increasingly targeted healthcare because it offers many of the characteristics investors look for: long-term demand, recurring revenues and opportunities for operational improvement.

Healthcare demand is relatively resilient compared with many other sectors. An ageing population, increasing levels of chronic illness and pressure on public services mean demand for healthcare provision continues to grow.

That has created opportunities across a wide range of markets, including diagnostics, ophthalmology, mental health services, social care, specialist medical treatment, outpatient services and healthcare technology.

The traditional private equity model involves acquiring businesses, investing in improvements, increasing operational performance and eventually selling the investment. Supporters argue that approach can bring professional management, efficiency and access to capital.

Many healthcare businesses backed by private investors point to improvements in facilities, digital systems, recruitment processes and patient capacity following investment.

Industry observers say private equity interest has grown partly because healthcare providers need capital to meet demand that public funding alone may struggle to address.

Tim Read, director of research at healthcare consultancy LaingBuisson, said private equity firms were increasingly acquiring “organisations that are an integral part of healthcare delivery”.

He noted that the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the resilience of healthcare operators supported by reliable demand and public sector funding.

The NHS has also become increasingly reliant on independent providers to support capacity, particularly as it works to reduce waiting lists.

Private healthcare companies have played a role in delivering NHS-funded treatment, including elective procedures, diagnostics and specialist services, helping provide additional capacity when public services are under pressure.

For businesses operating in healthcare, the opportunity is significant. Demand is increasing, technology is transforming how services are delivered and there is a growing need for investment in infrastructure.

Healthcare technology has become one of the most attractive areas for investors. Digital patient records, artificial intelligence, diagnostics platforms and data management systems are expected to play a central role in the future of healthcare delivery.

However, technology investment has also raised some of the biggest questions around ownership and accountability.

In the headlines yesterday was the acquisition of Optum UK, the healthcare technology business behind EMIS, by US private equity firm TPG brought these concerns into focus. EMIS provides electronic patient record systems used by more than half of GP practices in England, making the deal a significant development for NHS-linked digital infrastructure.

Critics questioned the implications of private ownership of systems that handle sensitive healthcare information and called for greater transparency around how such assets are governed.

Anna Marriott, former Oxfam health policy lead, said the deal should “ring major alarm bells”, arguing that increasing private equity involvement in healthcare required stronger oversight.

Supporters of investment argue that ownership alone should not determine whether a healthcare provider succeeds or fails. Instead, they say the focus should be on outcomes, quality standards and accountability.

They argue that private capital can help healthcare organisations invest faster, improve technology and expand services in ways that may not be possible through traditional funding routes.

The debate becomes more complicated when considering the question of profit.

Healthcare differs from many other industries because efficiency savings can have direct consequences for patients and staff. Critics argue that cost reductions, staffing decisions and financial structures must be carefully examined because the impact is felt by people relying on essential services.

David Rowland, director of the Centre for Health and the Public Interest, has raised concerns about the level of profit being generated from parts of the UK health and care system.

He has argued that private investors have increasingly become involved in services supporting vulnerable groups, including older people requiring residential care, children in care and people needing specialist mental health support.

Rowland said: “If you are in a vulnerable situation in the UK because of your age, personal circumstances, violent crime or ill health, there is a strong chance that somebody somewhere - most likely an offshore private equity investor - will be making a profit out of your health and care.”

The Centre for Health and the Public Interest has highlighted concerns about financial returns generated in parts of the care sector and has called for greater transparency around ownership structures and where money ultimately goes.

People argue that essential healthcare services require long-term stewardship rather than investment strategies focused around improving value before an eventual sale.

Research has also added fuel to the debate. A systematic review published examined 55 studies across eight countries looking at the impact of private equity ownership on healthcare costs, quality and patient outcomes.

The review found private equity ownership was most consistently associated with increased costs, while impacts on quality were mixed. Researchers concluded there were “no consistently beneficial impacts of PE ownership”.

Much of the evidence examined relates to the US healthcare market, where private ownership plays a different role from the UK system, but the findings have contributed to wider discussions about how healthcare businesses should be funded and managed.

Social care has become one of the most closely watched areas of private investment. Previous failures among care providers have increased scrutiny of financial structures, debt levels and whether some organisations have sufficient resources to invest for the long term.

Critics argue that highly leveraged acquisitions can create additional pressure on providers, potentially limiting investment in staff, facilities and service improvements.

Private equity firms counter that investment does not automatically mean reduced quality and say financially stronger businesses are better positioned to improve services.

They point to examples where investment has supported expansion, introduced new technology, upgraded facilities and improved operational performance.

The challenge for the healthcare sector is finding the right balance.

There is broad recognition that healthcare requires significant investment. Hospitals, care providers and technology businesses need funding to expand capacity, modernise systems and meet changing demand.

At the same time, regulators and policymakers are facing growing calls for clearer reporting requirements, greater ownership transparency and stronger safeguards around essential services.

The future healthcare funding model is likely to involve a mixture of public finance, private investment and strategic partnerships.

The question is not simply whether private equity belongs in healthcare. The debate now centres on how investment can be structured so that commercial success supports - rather than competes with - better outcomes for patients.

As private capital continues to move deeper into healthcare, investors, operators and regulators will be under increasing pressure to prove that financial returns and public benefit can exist together.

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Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

A rum old selection of deals from around the country this week, and a timely jibe at private equity ownership in professional services from MHA’s charming CEO Rakesh Shaunak, and a funding round which attracted Steven Bartlett, Mark Zuckerberg, Claudia Schiffer, Maria Sharapova and will.i.am.

This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

A marquee deal and evidence of a strong appetite for good businesses was how one adviser described the sale of a stake in Manchester-based property software business Street Group, which has taken investment from private equity investor Hg Capital, in a deal that values the business at £200m, and provides a 4.4 times return on exiting investor PXN (formerly Praetura Ventures).

The business was founded in 2015 by siblings Heather and Tom Staff as an AI-native, real-estate software business “designed to disrupt and displace the incumbents in the UK estate agency market”.

In the year to the end of December 2025 the business made revenues of £16m and £1.29m in pre-tax profits.

Heather and Tom Staff, whose parents ran an estate agency business, said: “In Hg we have found a partner who shares our long-term ambition, our product focus, and brings genuine depth of experience and operational expertise in scaling software and AI businesses. “

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Devon-based pet food maker Forthglade has been acquired by Assisi Pet Care, marking an exit for IK Partners, which took a majority stake in the business in 2020.

Under IK’s ownership, Forthglade doubled revenues, expanded manufacturing capacity and built out its digital commerce platform.

Now Assisi is paying for that growth trajectory, adding Forthglade to a portfolio that includes Yakers, Burns, Hollings and HiLife.The Wind Point Partners-backed group clearly has an appetite for more.

Neko Health has checked its own vital signs and the results are looking pretty healthy, with the Birmingham-based health tech firm landing a £520m funding boost to fuel its global ambitions.

The preventative healthcare company, which opened its first Birmingham clinic earlier this year, has raised the bumper investment to expand into the US and keep developing its technology that aims to catch health problems before they become headaches.

Its 60-minute health scan uses sensors and blood analysis to collect millions of data points, giving customers a detailed snapshot of their health - from skin checks to markers linked to heart disease and metabolic risks.

The funding round attracted a star-studded set of backers, including Steven Bartlett, Mark Zuckerberg, Claudia Schiffer, Maria Sharapova and will.i.am – proving Neko has plenty of investors willing to put their money where their health data is.

With more than 100,000 people already scanned across the UK and Sweden, Neko is hoping this latest cash injection keeps the business in rude health as it takes preventative healthcare to a global stage.

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Banyan Software, which buys and develops growing software businesses worldwide, has swelled its already impressive global portfolio by scooping up York-based Simunix Holdings. Simunix, founded in 1998 by John Lewis, is a provider of people and business searches, ID verification and data software for public and private sector organisations. Its technology is used by UK police forces as well as logistics, financial services and compliance organisations for identity verification and geo-location.

Banyan Software, founded in 2016, now operates more than 100 portfolio companies across North and South America, the UK, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Lewis said his firm had spent more than two decades building systems which public and private sector clients rely on. He added Banyan had stood out as a candidate to buy the business due to its long-term mindset and its respect for Simunix’s core values.

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Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has acquired Glasgow-based Greaves Sports.

The Gordon Street store will continue to operate under the Greaves brand, which has a history dating back to the 1930s.

Meanwhile, a bidding war is developing for Edinburgh-headquartered oil and gas extractor Capricorn Energy.

Earlier this week a stock exchange update confirmed a second bid for the business, with Samos Energy stating a possible cash offer of 381 pence per share.

At the start of this month, Genel Energy tabled a takeover worth $4.74 in cash for each share, making the deal worth approximately $360m on a fully-diluted basis; equivalent to around £270m.

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It was interesting that Rakesh Shaunak, chief executive of MHA went out of his way to talk about the contrast between the private equity backed model and the success of the IPO - describing it as an “encouraging validation of the model we set out at IPO”.

Revenues were up 12% to £251.3m from £224.1m last year and adjusted profit before tax was up 7% to £39.1m (FY25: £36.3m).

“Our model is deliberately different from the widely adopted private equity-backed route in the professional services sector. It preserves the ownership mindset and accountability of our partner group, aligns partners interests with shareholders, provides a clear path for our people to participate in our future growth and gives us the flexibility and the financial independence to invest for the long term. That balance of entrepreneurial drive, public market discipline and access to growth capital is central to how we intend to build MHA.”

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Do you back a fast growing company that should win in our new Growth Awards?

TheBusinessDesk.com’s brand new Growth Awards will be on the hunt for the next generation of regional business leaders — people who

have taken responsibility early, delivered results, and shown what they’re capable of.

The Emerging Growth Leader award is for leaders within five years of stepping up to a significant role who have already made a measurable difference.

Entries should tell us:

What role did they step into, and what was the context?

What have they built, changed or delivered in that time?

What has their leadership made possible for the business?

What do the next five years look like for them?

To enter the awards visit our Growth Awards 2027.

The awards span three strands – Company, Team and Individual – with categories recognising everything from turnaround success and international expansion to finance, technology, people and board excellence.

An overall Growth Business of the Year will be chosen from the category winners.

There is still an opportunity to sponsor the first Growth Awards, and meet some of the region’s most exciting businesses. Please contact sales@thebusinessdesk.com to find out more.

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Having now completed the Rainmaker events in the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire, we have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

::

Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

As recruitment strategies for a buy and build business, filing legal action against five partners of a business you bought just a few years ago probably doesn’t figure.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and deal insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

The shock exclusive revelations published on TheBusinessDesk.com this week that Lawfront has filed a High Court claim against the five partners of Manchester firm Slater Heelis, three of whom still work there, has sent shockwaves through the professional services world.

Backed by private equity investor Blixt, Lawfront is led by Neil Lloyd (far left), who has been around the block with a buy-and-build in the dental sector. But does this case highlight a fundamental flaw in the valuation process for professional services firms, accurately calculating work in progress?

Any business needs to forecast, but when it comes to a purchase, the hard headed reality of private equity businesses seems to have collided with the character of the firm they bought. The question everyone is asking now is why has this only come to light at this stage in the relationship?

And now that it has, surely something like this should be settled out of court. Who would want to risk selling to Lawfront now?

Strategy Specialist, Private Equity Operating Partner & Law Firm COO Adil Taha, who knows a thing or two about the rough ride of law firm ownership was blunt: “Not surprised at all that Private Equity didn’t know how to value a law firm properly. Most surprising fact here is they paid £17m for it! This will decimate trust in that group now, pushes a sale even further away. Massive scoop this.”

Let’s recap what we know so far.

Lawfront has launched a £4.6m High Court claim against five Slater Heelis partners, more than two years after the acquisitive group bought the Manchester law firm.

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Scotland’s business founders need to be less modest and its finance community more bold, according to the corporate lead at a national law firm.

In a frank exchange Danny Lee with Peter Walker, he explains why private equity and venture capital in Scotland remain challenging.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and specialist insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

Danny Lee, partner and head of the Edinburgh office at Burges Salmon, reckons Scots leading promising start-ups and scale-ups must get their confidence back.

“So they’ll ask for £1m rather than £5m because that’ll do, they’re thinking about what will cover the next year, rather than longer and bigger than that,” he explained. “It’s a bit of a mindset thing here, which is why it’s often foreign students behind our brightest businesses, as they bring a bit more ambition - they’ll say what needs to be said to get interest - so I think Scottish founders need to puff their chests out a bit more.”

As for his fellow rainmakers north of the border, Lee reckons more bravery is required.

“I sense there is capital begging to be deployed, but there are so many geopolitical uncertainties we’re all just a bit anxious, nobody’s willing to stick their heads out,” he commented, adding that while transaction levels are OK so far, 2026 has yet to really take off.

“I’m optimistic that this time last year we’ll be a bit busier.”

Lee said that private equity and venture capital in Scotland remains challenging.

“The Scottish National Investment Bank has done a reasonable job in crowding in capital, writing bigger cheques than Scottish Enterprise used to - the thing is that while great ideas are formed here, they stay small or get sold to a bigger player; usually with jobs lost overseas,” he argued.

Read more

We’ve got a fantastic opportunity to share with you this week, the launch of the Growth Awards across our regions. Details below.

We’ve also got a round up of deals, moves and market commentary on the week just gone.

This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

A Hull-based firm which has literally been keeping the show on the road for touring artists for more than a quarter of a century has been acquired. Transport specialist MM Band Services has worked with big names including the Foo Fighters, Shakira and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It has been bought by Netherlands-based entertainment logistics company Pieter Smit Group.

The deal aims to strengthen Pieter Smit’s presence in the UK, enabling the group to more effectively serve touring productions confronting the complexities of post-Brexit travel between the UK and Europe. MM Band Services, which was founded in 2000, will continue to operate under its established brand, with managing director Mike Moulds remaining in place alongside the existing team.

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Azets has received a major boost to its healthcare offering after completing a deal that sees the accountancy and advisory firm acquire BDO’s medical services team and client portfolio - giving its specialist practice a clean bill of health.

The 16-strong team has joined Azets’ Birmingham and Ipswich offices, bringing with them a wealth of experience supporting healthcare professionals, including GP practices and Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

Led by Sarah Lock, Partner, Juliette Maguire, Director, and Louise Barter, Director, the team will help strengthen Azets’ growing healthcare practice, which now supports more than 600 GP practices, 3,500 GP partners and locums, and 100 PCNs across the UK.

It’s a move that adds further depth to Azets’ healthcare expertise - proving the firm is not just balancing the books, but helping healthcare businesses stay in good financial shape.

Peter Gallanagh, UK&I chief executive at Azets, said the transaction reinforced the firm’s ambition to become the UK’s number one provider of specialist accounting and advisory services to the healthcare sector.

Sarah Lock said the move provided an opportunity to continue delivering specialist support while becoming part of one of the UK’s leading healthcare practices.

The acquisition builds on Azets’ growing presence in the East of England following its acquisition of Ensors last year, as the firm continues to expand its specialist advisory services.

With more healthcare expertise joining the team, Azets looks to have found a healthy formula for growth - combining specialist knowledge, trusted relationships and a prescription for long-term success.

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Overseas predators are continuing to target UK companies, further diminishing the breadth, depth and quality of the London market.

The latest name to fall prey to a bid is engineer Rotork. The UK is home to several UK industrial businesses who are global leaders, albeit in niche areas.

A takeover approach from Swiss engineering giant ABB is likely to see their ranks thinned, with Rotork’s board having signed off on the deal and shareholders likely to fall in line given the offer is in cash and pitched at a healthy premium.

Energy group DCC also looks likely to join the queue for the exit after a slight improvement in the terms on offer from a consortium made up of US buyout firm KKR and Energy Capital Partners.

The deadline for a firm offer has been pushed back towards the end of the month, and the deal looks likely to go through. Further down the ranks, pawnbroker Ramsdens has agreed to an improved bid from US rival FirstCash.

Dan Coatsworth of AJ Bell said: “These potential departures would be less of an issue if there was a healthy pipeline of new names listing in the UK. Given this isn’t the case, there will be concern about what the departure of names via takeovers mean for the diversity and depth of a market which has already lost relevance compared with its global counterparts.”

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Northern Gritstone, the investment company scaling early-stage life sciences and technology companies in the North of England, chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, has promoted Simon Braham to Chief Investment Officer.

Simon joined Northern Gritstone in September 2025 to drive the growth of its portfolio companies in the newly created role of Head of Portfolio. In his new role as Chief Investment Officer, he will oversee all of the company’s investment activities.

Based in Manchester, Simon is an experienced venture capital and private equity investor. He joined Northern Gritstone from Bridges where he led its Sustainable Growth Funds in the North.

Since Northern Gritstone began investing in May 2022, its team has reviewed more than 1,500 opportunities, leading to investments in 52 cutting-edge companies in the North based on world-leading science. With a balance sheet of £383 million and set to increase, the company continues to originate opportunities and drive value in its growing portfolio of companies that are ‘rooted in the North but global in mindset’. These include spinouts from the universities of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield (collectively known as the ‘Northern Arc’).

In line with its growth, Northern Gritstone continues to build out its investment team. James Bellis joins in the newly created role of Portfolio Director. Based in Manchester, James joins from the Global Advisory firm, Teneo, where he advised companies, investors and management teams through strategic and value creation situations. Narjeet Singh also joins as Investment Manager, having moved to Manchester from his London role in Lincoln International’s Technology M&A team.

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GC Angels, who we featured on Rainmakers on Tuesday, has backed Manchester edtech company, Gaia Learning, in a further £400,000 equity investment round alongside NESTA and a syndicate of angel investors.

Founded in 2019, Gaia Learning was created to address a growing challenge in education.

The online platform is dedicated to ensuring neurodivergent children have access to learning environments that understand and support their individual needs.

What began as a mission to improve outcomes for learners who often struggle in traditional educational settings has evolved into a specialist online alternative provision, supporting children and young people across the UK who may be unable to access mainstream education due to autism, ADHD, anxiety, school avoidance, mental health challenges, or other additional needs.

The business first secured £550,000 in 2024, led by NESTA Impact Investments alongside GC Angels.

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Do you back a fast growing company that should win in our new Growth Awards?

TheBusinessDesk.com’s brand new Growth Awards will be on the hunt for the next generation of regional business leaders — people who
have taken responsibility early, delivered results, and shown what they’re capable of.

The Emerging Growth Leader award is for leaders within five years of stepping up to a significant role who have already made a measurable difference.

Entries should tell us:
What role did they step into, and what was the context?
What have they built, changed or delivered in that time?
What has their leadership made possible for the business?
What do the next five years look like for them?

To enter the awards visit our Growth Awards 2027.

The awards span three strands – Company, Team and Individual – with categories recognising everything from turnaround success and international expansion to finance, technology, people and board excellence.

An overall Growth Business of the Year will be chosen from the category winners.

There is still an opportunity to sponsor the first Growth Awards, and meet some of the region’s most exciting businesses. Please contact sales@thebusinessdesk.com to find out more.

::

::

Having now completed the Rainmaker events in the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire, we have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

::

Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Are you sick of football after last night?

Maybe, but the onset of the domestic season in a few weeks time has concentrated minds on the massive reach sport has more generally, with diverse and scattered fan bases all over the globe.

Here’s a deal of its time, the £20m investment by BGF into Urban Zoo, a sports tech business which provides digital infrastrcture and a content template for clubs and brands.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and deal insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

You’ve got to give BGF’s Rhys Davenport some credit for his patience.

The winner of the Rising Star award at the North West Rainmaker Awards has been talking to sports tech business Urban Zoo for five years.

The deal was inked this week, with BGF investing £20m in the business which builds digital platforms for leading sports clubs.

Describing Urban Zoo as “a brilliant business” he said the bank backed fund has been talking with founders for half a decade: “Five years of relationship building has contributed to this outcome and the Urban Zoo team have consistently delivered ahead of expectations over that period.”

Founded in 2013, the Warrington-based company provides world-leading digital platforms for sports brands, clubs, and federations – across mobile, web, streaming, e-commerce, and retail – to drive fan engagement and strengthen revenue streams. It has been backed up until now by Manchester entrepreneur Phil Hodari, and with investment from the founders.

The intention is for the BGF’s investment to support the scale-up of the development of Urban Zoo’s proprietary technology, and to grow across international markets, particularly in North America, which has been gripped by football during the 2026 World Cup.

He says the BGF and Urban Zoo five year courtship informed the eventual structure of the deal.

“BGF developed a close working relationship with Urban Zoo after an initial outreach message to Chris (CEO), followed by introductions to our wider network and value creation function. That relationship underpinned a flexible deal structure that helped satisfy a range of existing shareholders, anchored on long-term, patient growth capital.”

He adds that throughout the process, BGF was able to set itself apart from its competitors through its tangible value creation support, relevant experience with similar businesses and unique investment model.

If you’ve ever wondered why every football club website, ticketing page and news site feels consistent, and things are where you expect them to be, then the answer is Urban Zoo, which has disrupted the highly competitive global digital sports market through a differentiated all-in-one platform solution, Gamechanger, which they’ve also registered as a trademark.

It was developed in collaboration with global sports leaders and organisations to streamline content workflows, drive ROI, and deliver feature and data-rich websites and apps.

Despite the AI-induced wobbles amongst investors about any software platform, BGF have invested with the hope that Urban Zoo can build on its significant share of the UK market, working with more than 60 professional clubs across all tiers of the English Football League, including Aston Villa, Everton and Nottingham Forest, leading Scottish clubs Hibs and Celtic, as well as the Professional Darts Corporation, Motocross GP, and the Rugby Football League.

Urban Zoo was born out of a games developer Chris Grannell’s frustration at seeing clubs either bodge together clunky off‑the‑shelf tools or burn fortunes on one‑off builds that were outdated almost as soon as they went live. Instead, its platform gives rights‑holders a clean, flexible template that looks and feels big‑league but can be run by a skeleton back‑office team as easily as by a 15‑strong marketing department. New kit launches, changes of sponsor, VIP streams for overseas owners – are all designed to be dropped in and deployed without drama.

That pragmatism runs through the business model. Urban Zoo has grown steadily and quietly, staying close to break-even for much of its life rather than chasing vanity metrics or overpaying for growth. So far, the business has only ever filed abbreviated accounts, so we can’t see sales an profits growth, but it is steadily profitable according to one person familiar with the business.

The result is a capital‑light, profitable software business that can serve a Conference side and a Premier League club on essentially the same economics – a genuine mass‑market product in a sector that tends to obsess over only the top few global names.

It has also proved it can travel beyond football. The same technology now underpins propositions in rugby, cricket and darts, with contracts such as the Professional Darts Corporation helping to show that Urban Zoo’s “Gamechanger” isn’t limited to the 90‑minute format. For investors, that combination of disciplined execution, diversified rights‑holder relationships and a ready‑made playbook for expansion into Europe and North America explains why this has been a long courtship – and why, even in a choppier market for software valuations, the business has emerged as one of the more quietly impressive growth stories in UK sports tech.

Founder Grannell says the last 13 years has given Urban Zoo has a strong foothold in the UK sports market, working with some of the biggest brands, clubs and governing bodies to deliver digital platforms that engage fans around the world.

“We have a massive opportunity to take our platform into key global markets. To maximise that opportunity and accelerate our strategic ambitions, we recognised the need to form a strong investment partnership. BGF was the standout choice following a competitive approach, based on its tangible value creation support and unique investment model. We’re very excited about the journey ahead.”

As part of the investment, Geoffrey Finlay, former CEO of Lysanda and nCipher plc, will join as non-executive chair. Finlay brings more than 35 years’ experience in building and scaling dynamic technology businesses globally. He was appointed through BGF’s Talent Network – one of the largest groups of board-level non-executives in the UK and Ireland.

As for Rhys Davenport, the Investor at BGF who’s patience has paid off, he sees the business going from strength to strength as a result of the flexible deal he’s put together, centering on value creation and long-term, patient growth capital.

“Urban Zoo’s proven traction in the UK market creates a strong foundation for a significant scaling opportunity, with global potential and the ability to position itself at the forefront of the digital sports market.”

“Supported by BGF’s funding, Urban Zoo intends to invest in talent, develop its go-to-market strategy and build international capability from its Warrington headquarters. The business intends to make its mark on a global scale, placing the North West on the map when it comes to innovative digital sports solutions,” Davenport says.

Patrick Simpson, Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal, who advised the shareholders said: “Urban Zoo’s track record of working with leading sports brands and clubs positions it perfectly to capitalize on the growing demand for digital engagement solutions globally.”

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Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

If you want an example of how an active state can support growing businesses, very much the language of incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham, then look no further than how the GC Angels works.

Funded by the Growth Company, the assets sit on the balance sheet of the not-for-profit business support hub that delivers business support programmes. And its leader, Marc Shirman, wants to span the North.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and sector insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

The founding mission of GC Angels was to was to address the innovation finance gap and enhance Greater Manchester’s seed investment ecosystem. To do that, in 2023, the Growth Company hired Marc Shirman as head of equity investments. Since then he’s set about building a new direction for the service for scale up businesses right across the North.

Shirman brings more than 20 years’ experience to the team, having previously managed equity funds as co-head of Muzinich Private Capital Strategies where he raised their maiden UK fund, and in launching the Manchester office of transatlantic venture capital investor Beringea. He also acts as an advisor to Northern Gritstone helping build a more integrated and effective northern start-up ecosystem.

From his vantage point at GC Angels, he sees a seed and pre-seed market that is “very buoyant”, full of innovative companies but starved of the right kind of capital. Traditional investors, he says, have “de-risked and looked to more mature companies”, chasing scale-ups with £1m-plus revenues and clear paths to profitability. That leaves a dangerous gap for founders who are “not quite at the market yet” but have exhausted friends, family and their own credit.

Read more

A week that started with England’s middle-of-the-night victory against Mexico then meandered through the latest heatwave has given the past few days a decidedly-lethargic, waiting-for-the-beach feel.

Still, there are deals being worked on and done, while the rest of us ponder what good value looks like when it comes to easyJet. Heat, high pressure and some turbulence might be a feature of the summer weeks ahead…

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Birmingham’s Gleeson Recruitment Group has found its perfect match after French business services giant Samsic Group snapped up a majority stake.

The deal sees Gleeson join the Samsic family alongside Manchester recruiter Sellick Partnership, although both firms will keep their own brands and leadership teams.

Founded in 2011, Gleeson has grown from a Midlands recruiter into a nationwide specialist spanning everything from finance and tech to legal, HR and life sciences.

The three founders - Jason Blakey, Tony Gleeson and Jason Granger - are all staying put, with Samsic backing the next stage of the firm’s growth.

With operations in 27 countries, €4.1bn in turnover and 155,000 employees, Samsic clearly wasn’t headhunting just anyone.

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Derwent Displays is back in the shop window after Mailway Packaging Solutions Group snapped up the Derbyshire manufacturer out of administration.

The deal keeps 33 jobs on display at the Denby site, with the business set to continue trading as Mailway Displays.

Derwent, which has been making retail and point-of-sale displays for more than 30 years, entered administration on 8 July. Now, thanks to the takeover, it’s getting a fresh start.

Mailway says it plans to invest in the business, improving engineering, research and development, and operations, while creating more jobs as it grows.

CEO Johannes Rosenthal said the deal builds on a long-standing relationship between the two businesses and praised Derwent’s experienced team and loyal customer base.

The business will continue serving existing customers as part of the wider Mailway group.

Gateley Legal advised the joint administrators, while Hill Dickinson acted for Mailway.

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This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

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Blackburn-based petrol forecourts empire, EG On The Move, has plenty in the tank regarding its targeted acquisition strategy.

The group, now under the control of Zuber Issa, after brother Mohsin’s exit, is adding the 85-location Prax forecourts business to its control, for an undisclosed sum, it announced this week.

The acquisition expands EG On The Move’s national site network to approximately 285 locations in the UK, bringing together a portfolio of well established forecourts operated by experienced independent retailers.

The acquired business will continue to operate under a commission operator model.

In May the Blackburn group acquired MPK Garages, an independent petrol forecourt operator with 27 sites across the Midlands.

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Leeds-based law firm Switalskis has secured an eight-figure funding package from HSBC UK to fuel nationwide expansion, setting ambitious growth targets as it pursues a consolidation strategy.

The firm has already added ten new directors in the last 12 months and opened an office in Grimsby. Now, with HSBC backing, it’s targeting 20% turnover growth over the next year through further acquisitions and workforce investment.

CEO John Durkan framed it as fulfilling a long-held vision: “This funding has allowed us to accelerate our growth strategy and fulfil the vision that we’ve had for the business since we started the company.”

For Switalskis, it’s M&A-led expansion with the firepower to make it stick.

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::

Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

The ink is barely dry on Goldman Sachs’ landmark investment in The Private Office, but founder Stuart Phillips insists the deal isn’t an exit - it’s fuel for the firm’s next phase of growth.

He tells Sheryl Moore why he chose Wall Street over private equity and how control was never up for negotiation…

It takes something unusual for Goldman Sachs to write a cheque into a UK financial planning firm.

The Wall Street giant has spent decades backing global businesses with ambitious growth plans, but its decision to take a significant minority stake in The Private Office is as much a vote of confidence in a business model as it is in a balance sheet.

For founder and CEO Stuart Phillips, the deal is not an exit. It is fuel.

Following recent FCA approval, Goldman Sachs Alternatives has acquired around a 40% stake in the fast-growing wealth manager, injecting fresh capital to accelerate expansion while leaving control firmly with management and employees.

“I’ve got the fighting power of Goldman Sachs, but I’ve managed to retain control,” Stuart says.

Control was never negotiable

That balance was non-negotiable. At a time when much of the UK’s advice sector is being rolled into private equity-backed consolidators with short investment horizons, The Private Office is taking a different path. Its strategy is to continue growing organically, make selective acquisitions, invest heavily in graduates, technology and digital marketing, and expand what has become one of the UK’s fastest-growing independent financial planning businesses.

For Stuart, Goldman Sachs is not the destination. It is the partner for the next stage of the journey.

The deal came together quickly. After testing investor appetite several years ago and deciding the timing was not right, The Private Office returned to the market last autumn with a clear objective: bring in a minority partner, provide liquidity for shareholders and secure the capital needed to accelerate long-term growth without giving up independence.

Bids arrived on Christmas Eve. By 28 January, Goldman Sachs Alternatives had signed.

“It was quite a quick process,” Stuart says. Finding the right investor mattered more than achieving the highest valuation.

“Goldman Sachs Alternatives is not its private equity division, it’s their hybrid capital alternatives fund,” he explains. “They’re not like a private equity firm – they don’t need a return in three or five years; they can invest for longer. They have a slightly lower return requirement, so they take less risk.”

That investment philosophy mirrors Stuart’s own. The Private Office has never been built for a quick flip. Every major decision has reflected a long-term vision of what a modern financial planning business should look like.

Inside the ownership structure

Its ownership structure reflects that. Before the Goldman transaction, entrepreneur Mike Edge – founder of Chase De Vere Investments -owned just over 25% of the business personally, while another 25% sat with his environmental charity, Restore Our Planet. The remaining 49% belonged to Stuart and employees.

The latest transaction allowed Edge to realise his investment while preserving the charity’s stake.

Today, Goldman owns around 40% of the equity. Restore Our Planet retains 25%, while the balance remains in employee hands.

When the transaction completed, around 165 members of staff shared in the proceeds. Some received a few thousand pounds; others collected seven-figure sums.

Built organically, not through consolidation

The UK financial advice market has become increasingly dominated by consolidators, with private equity-backed firms acquiring regional businesses to build national scale. The Private Office has deliberately resisted that model.

Instead, it has relied on organic growth. “Initially we were looking after mainly high net worth clients, so sort of assets in excess of £700,000 at the time,” Stuart says. “We got almost all of our clients through professional connections and client referrals across Yorkshire, so we did quite a lot of work in Leeds, a bit of work in Sheffield, Ilkley, and across to Hull. We built the business like that pretty much organically.”

That approach has transformed what began as a Yorkshire boutique into a national business with offices in Leeds, London and Bath, employing around 180 people, including approximately 55 advisers.

Turnover has grown from just under £2m in its first year to almost £34m last year. This year Stuart expects revenues to exceed £36mn, generating profits of between £10m and £11m.

Rather than extracting those profits, the business reinvests heavily. The Goldman capital simply increases its ability to do so. “Our plan is organic growth first, with a few bolt-on acquisitions.”

This year around 60% of growth will come organically and 40% through acquisitions. Over time, Stuart expects that balance to move back towards 80% organic growth.

“It doesn’t need to be the primary goal within my thesis with GS that I have to buy anything,” he says. “It’s only if I think it’s accretive.”

A selective approach to acquisitions

That strategy is already taking shape. In April, The Private Office completed its first acquisition in seven years with the purchase of HEB Wealth, adding around £100m in assets under management and taking the firm’s total assets under management beyond £3.1bn.

For Stuart, the deal is exactly the type of acquisition the business wants to pursue—targeted, complementary and designed to strengthen the firm’s existing platform rather than simply add scale. That means buying only businesses that fit culturally. “We’re looking at large, small and medium acquisitions,” he says. “The main part is just being culturally aligned to the type of business that we are – making sure the type of clients and the services they provide align to the way we do things. If they’re a long way away, we’ll damage both businesses.”

Growing its own advisers

If acquisitions are selective, recruitment is relentless. Rather than relying on experienced advisers from elsewhere in the industry, The Private Office has built its own academy, recruiting graduates and developing them into chartered financial planners.

“Seventy-five percent of our advisers we’ve grown through our academy,” Stuart says. “We’ve run seven or eight academies. Mainly university grads – we’ve got a grad intake this year that will bring in 10 graduates, five in Leeds, five in London.”

It is not a cheap strategy. Graduates require years of training before becoming productive advisers, but Stuart believes it gives the firm a significant competitive advantage.

“It doesn’t look and smell like most financial planning businesses in the UK,” he says. The average adviser is just 33 years old and around 40% are women.

He dismisses criticism often levelled at younger workers. “One of the most fun things in our business is I sit in lots of forums where people whinge about lazy young people coming through. That’s not our experience at all. They’re hugely motivated, very driven, very professional.”

He also believes the profession itself has fundamentally changed. “If I think of the quality of the advisory people I knew, we’re on a different planet today. A lot of what badgered or hurt our industry – the mis selling, the way things were sold – came from recruiting from a pool of people that probably didn’t have the right moral standing and charging structures that were a bit jaundiced. That’s what’s changing.”

The marketing engine behind the deal

Strong financial performance helped secure the Goldman investment. But Stuart believes one capability stood above everything else: marketing.

Eight years ago, The Private Office made the unusual decision to build its digital acquisition capability in-house. Today, that operation generates around 1,200 enquiries every month.

“That was one of the main draws for the Goldman Sachs investment – the mechanism and the ability, and the way in which we do that,” Stuart says. “No one else is doing it at the level or the scale or speed in terms of our organic growth.”

Planning first, products second

The firm’s philosophy has remained unchanged. The Private Office is chartered, independent and whole-of-market. Advice starts with financial planning rather than product sales.

“We start with a plan. We don’t get paid to sell you something; we get paid to give you a plan, and then what you choose to do with it, we can help you achieve that, or you can go and do it yourself.”

Clients typically have investable assets of more than £650,000, although the business increasingly advises younger professionals building wealth ahead of future exits.

In London particularly, many simply want certainty. “They’re short of time, earning well, likely to have some form of capital event in the future, but also highly stressed and want to know what level of savings they need to get to in their own life to be able to tell their boss to sod off and leave work.”

For wealthier families, The Private Office increasingly acts as a family office, coordinating investment management alongside tax, legal and succession planning.

“Whilst the numbers become larger as you get bigger, so does the degree of complexity in terms of tax reporting and structures that are available to you. Often a big chunk would be gifting money. It’s not just about being more expensive – it’s about having the experience and the connections to do it properly.”

From financial crisis start-up to Goldman-backed business

The irony is that The Private Office was born in the wreckage of the financial crisis. Back in 2008, Stuart and a handful of colleagues left secure careers because, as he puts it, “the culture changed overnight, and it wasn’t the right place for us.”

There were just six advisers and fewer than 20 people. Looking back, he believes the timing made the business stronger.

“With hindsight, it’s not a bad time to start. It makes you have the core fundamentals of a business and make sure you do that appropriately.”

Seventeen years later, those fundamentals have attracted one of the world’s biggest financial institutions. The board now includes two Goldman Sachs representatives alongside independent chairman Mark Lewis, the former chief executive of MoneySuperMarket and former CEO of eBay Europe.

Why AI won’t replace the adviser

Yet Stuart still controls the business. He still intends to prioritise organic growth over acquisitions, and he believes technology will only increase the value of quality financial advice.

“We’ve had the internet for a long time, we’ve had search engines, we now have AI,” he says. “The ability for people to find an answer to a question has become much easier. The ability for people to compare how they go about buying something has changed completely.”

He compares it to buying a car. “You imagine how you buy a car. When we first started, you turned up at a showroom knowing probably what kind of brand you wanted, and a salesperson would help you choose the car. Whereas now you’ve probably been online, used the configurator, you pretty much know exactly. You turn up to really work out a finance deal.”

Financial advice, he argues, is following the same path. Clients arrive better informed than ever before. The adviser’s role is no longer to sell a product, but to build a plan.

For Goldman Sachs, that proposition was compelling enough to invest. For Stuart, it is confirmation that patient growth, employee ownership and a refusal to follow the industry’s consolidation playbook can still attract one of the world’s most recognisable investment banks.

The next phase of The Private Office will not be defined by the size of Goldman Sachs’ cheque. It will be defined by what Stuart and his team build with it.

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From consolidation to technology investment, private equity is reshaping the UK’s logistics sector as investors back businesses with the scale, infrastructure and ambition to meet changing customer demands.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and sector insights like this one, also The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

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Private equity’s appetite for logistics businesses shows little sign of slowing. Once viewed largely as a dependable but operationally intensive sector, logistics has become one of the UK’s most attractive investment markets, fuelled by e-commerce, supply chain transformation, automation and growing demand for integrated services.

Rather than simply backing parcel operators or warehousing specialists, investors are increasingly targeting businesses capable of offering end-to-end logistics solutions.

One business illustrating that trend is DX Logistics. Since being taken private by H.I.G. Capital, the company has embarked on a programme of acquisitions, network expansion and strategic repositioning designed to transform it from a parcel and freight operator into a broader logistics partner.

Chief executive Ian Truesdale, who took over the role last year, says one of his first priorities was bringing together a business that had grown through multiple divisions into a more unified organisation.

“Being private equity owned, the owners or investors had specific goals around driving growth and driving our market share and expanding into new services.

“And we didn’t really have a very clear strategy as a company. We had a number of divisions that were operating quite independently, and we didn’t have a single unifying strategy.”

That experience reflects a familiar private equity playbook. Investors often acquire businesses with strong operational foundations before focusing on integration, strategic clarity and commercial expansion.

For DX, that has meant repositioning itself around a wider logistics proposition.

“My second priority, once I got to learn about the business, was to define and develop and define and then launch a new strategy for the business,” Truesdale says.

“We had a lot of very good internal alignment sessions with senior leadership team... agreeing what the right strategy was, and then testing that out internally and with our customers at the end of last year.

“And then we launched that new strategy at the beginning of this year, which included repositioning the business as a broader logistics company.”

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There is real sadness and shock this week however at the terrible news that Chris Silverwood, a prominent Yorkshire-based specialist in fundraising, administration and turnaround situations, has died.

Many personal tributes have been pouring in for Chris, who was a married father of five and founding partner of Harrogate-based independent corporate finance advisory boutique, CorpFin.

Posting on LinkedIn, Julian Kynaston, founder of brand consultancy, Propaganda, said: “It’s with immense sadness and absolute disbelief that I woke to the news that my friend, colleague, and all-round legend Chris Silverwood passed away yesterday.

Reacting to news of Silverwood’s death, Garry Wilson, managing partner of investor Endless LLP, said: “A tragic loss at such a young age and Yorkshire and the M&A community have lost a huge character.”

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This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

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The summer award season is over for us, and it’s been a great year for Clearwater, landing Rainmaker of the Year in both the North West and the West Midlands, and team of the year in Yorkshire, North West and the West Midlands.

Clearwater’s Joe Dyke was named Rainmaker of the Year as West Midlands’ corporate finance community gathered in Birmingham to celebrate the region’s best advisors and deals over the past year.

The awards remain peer-voted on a one-firm, one-vote basis, making them a genuine reflection of who the region’s corporate finance community rates most highly.

The other individual winners were Wilkes’ Rick Smyth, who was named Changemaker of the Year, and Evolve Corporate Finance’s Georgie Arthur who won Rising Star of the Year.

Joe Dyke said: “It’s been a great year. The team has done fantastically well, as you’ve seen tonight, we’ve been involved with some really cool deals with some great clients and great people. We’ve had some big news with investment through KeyBanc, which I think is a real vote for the region, A really big year, with lots still to come.”

TheBusinessDesk.com’s 2026 Rainmaker Awards were supported by headline partner Headpoint Advisors and Rainmakers’ principal partner Codurance. The category sponsors were Clarke Willmott, Datasite, Gilbanks, Hill Dickinson, K3 Capital Group, Knights, LHH, MFG Solicitors, React Cooling part of the Adroit Group, Rhino Interiors, and TheBusinessGrid.

Georgia Wright, the West Midlands editor of TheBusinessDesk.com, said: “It has been a great evening recognising the achievements of the past year, and lovely to see the community feel alongside the competition in each category.

“The Rainmakers community are genuinely invested in this region, they care about the businesses they back, the deals they build, and the community they’re part of.”

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An East Yorkshire pet food producer is spreading its wings by snapping up a well established small animal nutrition brand based in Germany. Burgess Pet Care, which is headquartered in Goole, has acquired Bunny Nature. The deal will make a serious impact on the buyer’s overseas trade, with Burgess Pet Care noting it will boost its international revenues five-fold to £12.5m. The acquisition represents Burgess’s largest international deal so far.

It follows its purchase of natural dog food brand Green Pantry and investment in fresh dog food subscription business Tuggs. Founded in 1988, Bunny Nature has a distribution network spanning the EU, North America and Asia. Its impressive footprint provides Burgess with immediate access to a broader customer base and supports its ongoing strategy to scale its presence worldwide.

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Thriving Brands combs through SLG’s Gen Z haircare offer

US acquisition platform Thriving Brands has snapped up COLAB Dry Shampoo and Johnny’s Chop Shop from Cheltenham-based SLG Brands, adding two proven Gen Z haircare and grooming brands to its portfolio.

Both brands are stocked by major retailers including Tesco, Boots, Target and Walmart across the UK and US. SLG, backed by BGF, built them into international brands from scratch – a foundation Thriving Brands (also owner of Right Guard deodorant) reckons is worth scaling.

Craig Cappozzo, chief executive of Thriving Brands, said the brands “win on shelf because they were built with genuine consumer insight and cultural relevance”.

He added: “Our job is to protect what makes them work and scale what makes them grow.”

SLG’s chief executive Lucy Beresford was more enigmatic, saying the sale “frees SLG to focus on what comes next”.

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Leep Group has taken another leap in its growth strategy with the acquisition of Staffordshire-based vocational training provider E.Quality Training.

Backed by Palatine’s Impact Fund, the Manchester-based business is stepping into the 16–19 education market for the first time, giving its employability arm a fresh boost at a time when youth skills are firmly in the spotlight.

E.Quality, which delivers Department for Education-funded courses in childcare, health and social care, and beauty, operates from centres in Hanley, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stafford. The business will be folded into Leep’s Back 2 Work division following a transition period.

With more than one million 16-24-year-olds across the UK currently classed as not in education, employment or training (NEET), the deal lands in a sector facing growing demand and growing urgency.

Founded in 1999, E.Quality employs around 30 staff, including 18 tutors. The acquisition marks Leep’s fourth deal since 2020, taking group revenues to around £33m and headcount to roughly 470.

Luke Muscat, co-founder and CEO of Leep Group said: “The E.Quality Training team are doing critically important work helping young people who have disengaged from education and have yet to enter employment build their skills and confidence. Often these young people are hard to help and hard to reach.”

James Gregson, impact fund partner at Palatine said: “This is another attractive and complementary strategic bolt-on for Leep, which not only increases its regional presence in the Midlands but also brings expertise and understanding of the age 16-19 training market, where we see significant growth potential.”

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Harrowden has put down fresh roots with the acquisition of George Davies Turf & Stone, in a deal that creates a combined business turning over close to £20m.

The Northamptonshire-based turf supplier, headquartered in Islip near Kettering, has bought the Olney landscaping business following a long-standing commercial relationship between the two firms.

Founded in 2001, George Davies Turf & Stone supplies more than 3,250 trade customers and rolls out around 1.4 million turf rolls each year - no small patch of the market.

The enlarged group will employ more than 130 people and operate from seven sites across the UK, giving Harrowden a broader footprint as it targets further growth.

Chantall Ridd-Jones, director at Harrowden said: “We’ve admired what George and his team have built for a long time. George Davies Turf & Stone has an excellent reputation within the industry for the way it looks after its customers and the relationships it has built over the last 25 years.”

George Davies will remain in the business as part of the senior leadership team for at least the next three years, helping ensure the transition stays on solid ground.

He said: “After 25 years of building George Davies Turf & Stone, this was one of the biggest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”

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In March this year DSW Capital, the AIM listed owner of advisory network Dow Schofield Watts issued a profit warning and reiterated its reliance on a lumpy M&A market wasn’t helpful in planning a business.

CEO Shru Morris said her strategic aim was to build a resilient and diversified group of licensee businesses.”

Hey presto - this week they acquired Integer Advisory, a Manchester-based specialist public sector advisory business, for £360,000 as part of that ambition.

As part of DSW’s wider business advisory group, DSW Business Planning’s six-strong team has built a reputation for providing private and public sector clients with financial modelling and data analysis services alongside financial and commercial advice on infrastructure projects and public sector investment.

Ellen Little, Partner at DSW Integer, formerly DSW Business Planning, said: “Rooted in this work is our personalised, partner-led approach, ensuring organisations can navigate through complex planning and delivery challenges.”

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Having now completed the Rainmaker events in the West Midlands, North West and Yorkshire, we have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

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Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

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Andy Burnham’s opening salvo in the one man Labour leadership race offered a few clues as to where his radical devolution agenda might affect those of you who make a living from funding and advising businesses in our regions.

But another speech, by another Andy, was even more illuminating about the future Prime Minister might have up the sleeve of his unstructured stylish blazer.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates on wider trends, like this one, insights from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and with leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, BGF and WestBridge.

Andy Burnham says he wants an industrial strategy in every region.

“This is the key to higher growth and I want more world-beating British manufacturers and service providers at the frontier of new technology and exporting to the world. I will back our scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs and creatives as I have done here and show how Britain will be the innovation nation of the next decade,” he said.

That was the bit that gave Michael Moore from UK Private Capital some cheer, with a bit of a wave from the seats at the back to remind the prospective prime minister he was available for a chat.

“We welcome Mr Burnham’s focus on public and private investment working hand in hand to make the UK an innovation nation. Private capital has a vital role to play in every nation and region of the UK, backing businesses, unlocking investment and helping local economies realise their full potential.

“By bringing decision-making closer to the communities it affects, and by strengthening partnerships between local leaders, businesses and private capital, investors such as our members can help more scale-up businesses and innovative spin-outs across the country grow and commercialise their ideas.

“Such focus on place-based collaboration and investment as a baseline for the UK economy presents a serious new opportunity for building a more dynamic and growing economy.”

To be fair, Moore has worked the region’s pretty hard, and has met Burnham a few times.

On support for the defence industry in particular Burnham said he wants to reshape procurement rules to benefit British businesses.

“For too long, UK public procurement policy has been based on chasing cut price deals around the world, rather than helping our own British-based suppliers become more stable and competitive.

“No more. From here on, every pound raised from taxpayers will work harder for them, and that approach will apply fully to the defence investment plan.

“And we will do that to make sure British-based companies are in a better position to win those contracts.

“In an increasingly uncertain world, we need to safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability across the country in critical sectors like steel, defence, energy, food and farming, rather than just being prepared to let it go, as we have sadly done in the past.

“In return, we will recycle maximum benefits for our communities and our residents, for instance by requiring a much greater supply of 45-day work placements and apprenticeships for young people.”

As political speeches go, it was rousing, and has to be seen in the context of the start of a process, not a fully formed agenda for government, or the future economic policy.

But if you want the strongest possible clue about his policy intentions, pay very close attention to what Andy Haldane has been saying, because it is he who has been working closely with Andy Burnham, not only on Good Growth Fund in Greater Manchester, but in easing the former Mayor into No. 10.

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It was the turn of the Manchester Rainmakers to turn out in force for their annual awards last night.

It was another very good night for Clearwater, with its founder Michael Reeves lifting the very first Lifetime Achievement Award just a couple of months since the firm he started over 24 years ago was sold to KeyBank.

The team won the National corporate finance team award and partner Ed Gale was named Rainmaker of the Year, following his colleague Michael Loudon who was crowned winner in 2025.

More of that below, but first, some deals of the week.

This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, and also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, and LDC.

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Wood Mackenzie has acquired LandGate for an undisclosed sum.

The deal combines Wood Mackenzie’s power market forecasting and supply chain analytics with LandGate’s proprietary land and grid intelligence.

Buying the Colorado-based company’s 150 million parcel-level, land intelligence dataset should strengthen the Edinburgh-headquartered energy analytics group’s market position.

Also in Scotland this week, mid-market law firm Lindsays and Dallas McMillian announced a merger.

The deal, which will take effect at the start of September, will see Dallas McMillan partners and staff transfer over, increasing the size of Lindsays’ Glasgow-based team from 80 to 123.

They will operate from the firm’s Queen Street office in the city centre and no job losses are anticipated.

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Mattioli Woods has acquired West Midlands adviser KRD Financial Advisers in a deal covering more than £400m of client assets - another step in its Retiring Adviser programme, which basically helps advisers “plan their exit without the exit drama.”

Founded in 2005 by Kevin Bissell, KRD has spent two decades building trusted relationships with over 1,000 households across the West Midlands and will now join the Mattioli Woods network.

CEO Peter Mann said KRD was exactly the type of firm the programme was designed for, while founder Kevin Bissell said the deal came down to shared values and a focus on long-term client relationships.

In short: one firm clocks off, the other clocks in - and Mattioli Woods keeps quietly adding to its advisory collection one retirement at a time.

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SEGRO has firmly swatted away a £12.6bn takeover approach from US rival Prologis, saying the bid simply doesn’t stack up - or as they might put it, the offer was “a bit short on square footage.”

Valued at 925p per share, the proposal was unanimously rejected by SEGRO’s board, who made it clear they’re not for sale at a discount rate - especially not in a warehouse worth of opportunity.

SEGRO called the timing “opportunistic,” suggesting Prologis tried to pick them up on the cheap while UK property valuations are still under pressure.

The company also pointed to strong demand, a healthy development pipeline and its growing data centre footprint - basically saying: “we’re not just storing value, we’re building it.”

Prologis may have tried to move in for the deal, but SEGRO has left it firmly at the loading bay and looks more interested in shipping long-term growth than shipping itself out the door.

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Hercules is refinancing to pay the maximum £4m earn-out on its Advantage NRG acquisition, a sign that the deal is hitting performance targets one year on..

The acquisition was structured as a £10.2m upfront payment, a deferred payment of around £1.5m, and an earn-out that could bring the total consideration to £15.7m

The Gloucestershire labour supplier has secured a £25m funding package from IGF Business Credit, with £4m of term loans specifically reserved for the final earn-out payment to Advantage NRG’s former owners.

Paying out an earn-out is usually a sign that things are going great. But Hercules’ chief executive Brusk Korkmaz couldn’t manage a celebratory tone, and limited himself to saying “the term loans enable us to meet our obligations relating to the Advantage NRG acquisition”.

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Michael Reeves, one of the founders of Clearwater, scooped the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award at the TheBusinessDesk.com’s North West BIGGEST EVER Rainmaker Awards tonight (25 June 2026).

Accepting the award Reeves said he was totally taken by surprise at the accolade.

Reflecting on his career highlights, he said: “We have a team of very bright, intelligent people who always have respect for our clients, respect for our business, and respect our community.”

Elsewhere, in a triple coup for the firm, which was recently bought by US investment bank Key, Ed Gale was named Rainmaker of the Year. He said: “We’re genuinely excited about the future, which should give us a lot of opportunity to get more and more access to the team around the US, to spread their insights and genuinely looking forward. People are excited about the work we can do in the US as well, so I think that’s just hopefully a really good opportunity for us. ”

Changemaker of the Year went to Helen Spence at EY and the Rising Star award went to Rhys Davenport from BGF.

The winners were chosen by a peer vote, after a shortlist was drawn up by around 60 judges from across the region’s corporate finance community gathered in Manchester who reviewed deals from the past 12 months and identified the most prolific teams and individuals who have made the greatest impact.

TheBusinessDesk.com North West editor Michael Taylor said: “It was a hot night, but host Justin Moorhouse kept the event going really well. Everyone had a great time celebrating the very best of the Rainmaker community in the region. There was also a lovely reponse to the tributes we shared about those we have lost this year: Abi Godfrey, Andy Thomas, Mark Fuller and Jen Bellamy.

“We really value the close relationships and trust that we’ve built up, that enable us to do the events and provide the very best coverage for this fascinating world.

“The awards were a centrepiece though, a real celebration of everyone’s hard work in supporting the businesses of our regions to be bigger, bolder and braver.”

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The 2026 Rainmaker Awards

The West Midlands Rainmaker Awards are upon us, once again bringing together the region’s deals community to celebrate the standout deals, teams, and individuals of the past 12 months.

Voted for by the corporate finance community itself, the awards are decided on a one-firm, one-vote basis – making the Rainmaker a genuine peer-led recognition.

Voting forms have landed, after the shortlists have been agreed by a judging day involving all the region’s leading firms.

The Rainmaker Awards ditch black-tie formality and speeches in favour of a relaxed evening focused on what the deals and the people who made them happen.

The evening is also a great way to connect with leading firms and individuals shaping the regional deal landscape.

There is a new individual category this year, as we will recognise Lifetime Achievement of one of our Rainmakers for the first time.

Tthe West Midlands awards are at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham on the 2nd of July.

We have also now announced dates and an opening for entries for the East Midlands event on the 5th of November in Nottingham and the South West event on the 26th of November in Bristol.

Last year the events sold out, so book early to secure your table.

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Thank you for subscribing to Rainmakers.

We believe in good journalism that is worthy of your support. Please share this edition of Rainmakers so we can grow the message further and wider.

The insights and commentary we share with you are rooted in the trust we have built in the business community.

We’re also on LinkedIn - please join our Rainmakers community group for updates and offers and opportunities to comment.

If you have something you think we should look at, then either reply to this newsletter or email michael.taylor@thebusinessdesk.com.

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Shahbaz Qasim used to open the batting for the cricket clubs he played for, and captained. But with age comes experience, and as he’s slipped down the batting order to play a slightly different role now, in his work mode, you also get the impression he’s brought that broad understanding of team work to doing deals too.

Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but also full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights, including updates from active Rainmakers, like this one, as well insights from The Secret Investor, interviews with entrepreneurs, and the leaders from other VC and PE investors like Endless, Foresight, Mercia, Puma and WestBridge.

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When Shahbaz Qasim joined Arrowpoint, Rothschild’s mid-market corporate finance team, as a managing director last year, he started building his innings there by completing a buyside deal for LDC, but he says what he’s really focusing on is what he calls “integrating our expertise” – work he hopes will see him convert some of the five sell-side mandates he’s currently working on.

From Manchester Grammar School to the University of Liverpool, Shahbaz’s early story is a familiar northern professional tale with a twist. Coming from a Pakistani heritage family, he says the expectation was he would go into medicine. He studied physiology and “was supposed to be a doctor”, but, as he puts it, “I just always had a real flair for business,” so he switched tracks and joined PwC’s audit team in Manchester in 2013, as they supported him through his ACA qualification.

Audit was the necessary apprenticeship rather than the destination: “I realised I was never going to be an auditor. I’m sure you’ve heard that story before.”

Instead of waiting for an internal move, he walked his CV down the road. A local recruiter introduced him to Clearwater’s Mike Reeves. After a characteristically brisk Manchester meeting – Iron Man Reeves arriving straight from a swim in the Salford Quays– Qasim was offered an associate role and, in December 2016, began what he calls “the start of my career in corporate finance”.

At Clearwater he cut his teeth on a string of mid-market deals: working with Paul Jones on the sale of Imtec to EDF Energy, and the sale in 2018 of BCN Group to Beech Tree Private Equity.

Clearwater’s European expansion then gave him his first break abroad. In 2019 he spent six months in Copenhagen with the Danish team and managed to complete two deals in that time – one in hosting and technology, another in secondary packaging – “which is quite rare” on that timescale.

By 2021, with COVID having accelerated the digitisation of everything, Qasim could see where the deal flow was heading. PwC – by then moving from a regional to a sector-led M&A model – came calling with a national tech mandate. He joined in the summer of 2021 to focus on technology M&A, particularly software and B2B data.

It proved to be a fertile run. “I got six deals done in three years in tech,” he recalls.

The tombstones from that period include the BCN Group sale (a business he’s now sold twice), FSP (a digital transformation consultancy), and Sedex, a supply chain data platform, sold to LDC.

That Sedex deal has already had a lucrative sequel. “The deal we did in 2023 was about £100m,” he says. “They sold it for north of a billion a few weeks ago… The reason was a proprietary data platform and a really good management team.” For Qasim, it’s a textbook example of what still attracts capital in an AI-scrutinised world: mission-critical software, defensible data, and founders who understand both technology and innovation.

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