A masochistic pleasure...
Football club ownership, a Keen deal, spotting the buyers and the battle for Boots, lead our Rainmakers round-up
Hello Rainmakers,
What is it with blokes and football clubs?
Who in their right mind would want to buy one, especially the one at the bottom of the league?
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mike Garlick, the new owner of bottom of the league Cheltenham Town, who will be watching his team tonight at the home of another entrepreneur owner, Gary Neville, co-owner of Salford City.
This is your end of week wrap in what is supposed to be the quiet time of the year.
This is free to all who have signed up, however Rainmakers subscribers get two unique pieces a week, but 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, and River Capital, Foresight, Mercia, Puma and LDC.
Sometimes being an entrepreneur is the embodiment of hope over experience. And owning a lower league football club? That's a particularly masochistic pleasure.
So here's to former Burnley FC chairman Mike Garlick, who's just completed his takeover of Cheltenham Town Football Club. Bon chance, mate.
The numbers make for grim reading: five games played, five lost. One goal scored in seven-and-a-half hours of football, while shipping goals every 40 minutes. Out of 92 clubs in English football's top four divisions, Cheltenham currently sit 92nd.
The only way is up...well, unless they get relegated into non-league next May.
Tonight brings the thrilling prospect of a 140-mile Friday slog up the M5 and M6 to face another League Two club with fresh ownership. Salford City's Class of 92 survivors David Beckham and Gary Neville have welcomed US businessman Declan Kelly and Lord Mervyn Davies to their merry band.
Even Salford's story should give Garlick pause. Four promotions in five years was impressive but they've just begun a seventh season marooned in League Two.
Still, given Cheltenham's current predicament, Garlick would probably take being "stuck" at that level for the next few years. Footballers and football club owners might like the glamourous acceleration of their fast cars, but sometimes in football it's all about parking the bus.
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Boots has just filed a new prescription for growth, becoming a private standalone company after being snapped up in a £7.4bn deal with New York private equity firm Sycamore Partners.
The buyout was carried out with Stefano Pessina and his family, who have reinvested their entire stake, a strong shot in the arm for the 176-year-old business.
The wider group now stands on its own two feet, bringing together Boots UK & Ireland, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company, pharmacies in Thailand, Farmacias Benavides in Mexico, Alliance Healthcare Germany, international franchise operations and retail investments in China.
The change follows the transfer from previous owner Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), as part of a wider deal completed on August 28.
Leadership remains in good health. Ornella Barra continues as chief executive of the Boots Group, while Anthony Hemmerdinger stays as MD of Boots UK & Ireland.
Barra said she was “hugely proud” of the company and “excited about this new step under new ownership”, adding that Sycamore’s retail know-how will help deliver its strategy of being a leader in the healthcare market and the communities it serves.
Sycamore’s Stefan Kaluzny hailed Boots as “a remarkable institution with deep roots”, while Pessina insisted the company was entering its next chapter “with strength and momentum”.
With 17 consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth under its belt, Boots seems to be moving into its new era in rude health, proof there’s still plenty of life left in the old remedy.
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One of the important jobs of any Rainmaker is working out who the buyers with an appetite are.
Step forward, Sureserve, one of the UK’s leading energy and compliance services providers, which has acquired CLP Group FS, a business based in Widnes, as part of a bid to enhance its electrical services offering.
The acquisition marks Sureserve’s third deal in the last quarter, after a £56.4million acquisition of Kinovo plc, another specialist compliance supplier. In October last year Sureserve acquired Low Carbon Exchange Limited for £26m. But the deal value for this acquisition was “undisclosed”.
It was taken private in 2023 when a new European private equity fund Cap10 bought Sureserve Group PLC valuing the equity at £214m and was a rare instance of a first time Fund completing a Public-to-Private as a first transaction.
Since then it acquired 100% of Swale Heating in November 2023 and 100% of Duality Group in April 2024.
This deal looks smaller. Established in 2026 CLP provides electrical, building, maintenance, and groundworks services across sectors including social housing, education, property management, commercial and industrial.
The business showed a healthy balance sheet on its last abbreviated accounts with cash and debtors amounting to £3.7m and as of April 2024 employed 99 people.
The angle for Surserve appears to be building more capacity in the electrical services side of its business. As Graham Levinsohn, Group CEO, Sureserve put it, “The electrical market continues to be a strategic priority for us and CLP’s expertise, culture and established client base make them the perfect partner to drive forward this expansion with us.
“We look forward to combining our strengths to deliver energy-efficient electrical solutions to the social housing sector and beyond.”
The tricky thing for the seller is always to dress this up as a ‘partnership’ without spooking the customers that anything is going to change for the worse. Jonathan Moody, Managing Director, CLP, talked about CLP’s journey, building the business, and presenting this deal as a “next natural step”.
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Transport solutions company Aurrigo International has accelerated the growth journey for its autonomous vehicles with a £14m fundraise, including £9.75m through a direct subscription with Next Gen Mobility. The fundraise, executed at 45p-per-share, is a 'Hail Mary' for the company with 45p being less than half of the price per share in June and July, before it warned it would miss revenue targets and losses would be greater than expected.
Coventry-headquartered Aurrigo specialises in driverless vehicles used in airports to handle baggage and cargo. It plans to use the additional funding to relocate to larger UK facilities in Coventry with increased design and manufacturing capacity, as well as increase its workforce and build multiple show demonstrator vehicles.
Next Gen, which has backing from a fund in India, recently acquired Ultra Global, the developer of personal rapid transit systems and responsible for the pod system at Heathrow Airport. Aurrigo has identified potential future commercial opportunities with Ultra Global and Next Gen, including the potential for the offshore manufacturing of some of Aurrigo’s vehicles in India and also opportunities to support entry into the South Asian and South East Asian aviation markets.
Aurrigo's chief executive David Keene said: “We are delighted to welcome Next Gen as a new strategic investor in Aurrigo and grateful for the support of both our existing and new investors.
“The funds raised will provide additional firepower to expand our operations and team, as we focus on the successful launch and go-to-market of our leading solutions.”
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A privately owned Swedish corporate group which already comprises about 30 companies employing 675 people, is further elevating its position by scooping up a South Yorkshire-based developer and seller of lifting equipment. Amplex AB confirmed this week that it has hoisted up Doncaster-headquartered APP Lifting Services. The acquired company has a particular focus on heavy lifting in the manufacturing industry and boasts annual sales of approximately £3.5m.
APP Lifting Services, which has been around for more than two decades, has been sold by its managing director, Paul Wright. He'll be sticking around to lead the firm following the change of ownership. Businesses within the Amplex AB group are mainly active in lifting and materials handling, workplace safety and lighting. Together, these firms employ workers in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, the USA, Canada and China.
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We are hosting Rainmakers Lunches soon, an opportunity to network with leaders from the corporate finance sector.
These events will bring together the region’s Rainmaker community to discuss the deals market in 2025 and celebrate your successes over the last 12 months.
We will be joined by our Rainmaker of the Year in each city.
Joining us in Leeds on the 23rd of September will be Rainmaker of the Year – Paul Mann, partner in the corporate team and head of the private equity team in the UK at Squire Patton Boggs.
Also attending is the Changemaker of Year, Alexandra Fogel, partner and head of private north at EY, who scooped the award at our Rainmakers awards in June.
Chris Handy, who is Partner and Head of West Midlands for LDC, alongside him we will have Richard Swann from Inflexion, who won our Changemaker of the Year award. on the 2nd of October.
Also on the 2nd of October in Manchester we have Rainmaker of the Year – Michael Loudon, partner and head of the North West at Clearwater.
Alongside him will be our Changemaker of Year, Greg Holmes, from Palatine, who scooped the award at our Rainmakers awards in June.
Also providing insights will be Claire Alvarez of private equity firm Foresight, who won the finance leader category at the Leadership Awards 2024 and shortlisted for Rainmaker of the year.
Laura Wiggins, our Rising Star, will be on maternity leave and we send her our very best wishes.
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