Carlsberg Britvic deal now on tap
Friday wrap of news and views for regional Rainmakers
Hello Rainmakers,
This is your free Friday taster email for all the curious free subscribers out there who don’t quite know what they’re missing.
Rainmakers is a reader-supported publication. Subscribers get two unique pieces a week and full access to our back catalogue of investigations, scoops, and insights. These include updates from columnist The Secret Investor and interviews with entrepreneurs (like this one), as well as leaders from VC and PE investors like Mercia and LDC.
This week we’ve brought subscribers a mixture of market analysis and insightful colourful commentary.
We’ve also got some great events coming up around different cities, including our Rainmakers conference on the 26th of March (more details below).
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Bottoms up! Carlsberg’s £3.3bn takeover of J2O maker Britvic has been given the green light by a High Court judge.
After a couple of failed bids and a CMA investigation, the Danish brewery’s deal is now on tap.
The merger will bring together beer and soft drinks into one ‘refreshing’ business, creating Carlsberg Britvic.
Guided by a team from Carlsberg, Britvic and CMBC, the plan is to take advantage of the ‘highly synergistic relationship between beer and soft drinks.’
Whether that mix truly blends well, only time will tell.
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The disposal of the engineering division of Carr’s – so they can focus on agriculture and agritech – says something about their strategy, but also the buyer being a major American corporation with £75m to spend gives a few clues about who the bullish buyers are going to be in the M&A market this year.
Carlisle headquartered group Carr’s has sold its engineering business to American industrial business Cadre Holdings for £75m.
The deal, on a cash free, debt free basis, will see Cadre, which specialises run the UK and German businesses alongside its interests in safety and survivability products, including body armour, explosive ordnance disposal equipment, duty gear and nuclear safety products through both direct and indirect channels.
The UK businesses employ 285 people and includes: NW Total in Barrow in Furness manufactures bespoke process equipment packages for the nuclear and defence sectors; Bendalls Engineering in Carlisle which makes protection products for nuclear, oil & gas and energy companies; and CarrsMSM in Swindon which handling equipment to the nuclear Industry, including the High-Level Waste Plant at Sellafield.
The Engineering Division contributed revenue of approximately £51.1m and made adjusted operating profits of approximately £7.8m last year. The gross assets of the Engineering Division as at 31 August 2024 totalled approximately £77.6m.
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Everyone loves an entrepreneur on a mission. Zuber Issa clearly still has the appetite to build his own forecourts business, EG On the Move, after the separation of assets from his brother. The deal with Applegreen has trebled the business in size.
Interestingly, he told the Sunday Times last weekend that he didn’t really know what private equity was before he worked with TDR at EG, and then on the highly leveraged acquisitions of Asda and various other bolt-on businesses.
He also confessed he’d probably do things a bit differently in the future. This week we saw the first example.
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Love him or loathe him, Alan Hardy is a survivor. The uber-controversial one-time owner of Notts County (and more on that later) last week brought down the curtain on a turbulent - yet somehow successful - era by selling that most rare of businesses: a successful golf and country club.
Hardy has sold the impressive Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club - a true oasis just outside the former mining village of Cotgrave - to The Club Company. Duncan & Toplis and Roythornes Solicitors advised him on the deal.
The buyer, The Club Company owns 18 country clubs - the majority located in central and southern England. The facilities at the Nottinghamshire pretty closely match the profile of the other clubs in the portfolio: golf courses, modern health and fitness facilities, swimming pool, tennis courts, bars, restaurants and a very nice hotel.
Inevitably, some of them now also have padel courts.
Read Sam Metcalf’s excellent interview with Alan Hardy here.
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Tuesday’s post looked at the efforts of policy makers and the London Stock Exchange to stimulate interest in growing companies.
That’s got to be a good thing, right?
So here we have PISCES, a share trading platform for private companies.
Part of me thinks it’s an elegant solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
But let’s hear the case for action as well.
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Did you hear the one about the former paratrooper who sold his eponymous rail services firm for an eight-figure sum this week?
That's what happened to the Harry Needle Railroad Company (great name!) when it was snapped up by Austrian rail contractor Swietelsky.
The deal will enable founder Harry Needle to realise his majority share in the business while steaming ahead as managing director, and allow Swietelsky to expand its operations in the UK with the addition of a 15-acre facility in Worksop that is one of the largest of its type in the country.
It will also provide an exit for Needle’s main funder, Frontier Development Capital.
A good deal for all aboard.
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An NVM-backed industrial group has got tooled up, made its first two acquisitions and is on the lookout for more.
NVM invested into Helix Tool Company's owner, MRO+ Solutions, as part of a management buyout last April that saw Cairngorm Capital exit.
It has now supported the double deal as part of its consolidation strategy for the industrial tooling group. But the purchase of Floyd Automatic, based in Hertfordshire, and North East company Nsert has not sated Helix's appetite for growth.
NVM's investment partner Charlie Pidgeon said: "Consolidation of markets is an obvious driver of growth...[we] look forward to backing the team with more opportunities as they arise."
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Puma Growth Partners has made a £4m investment into NRG Gyms, a gym group founded by entrepreneur Shafiq Ahmed.
Launched in 2013, the business has expanded over recent years to seven gyms and over 30,000 members across the UK in cities including London, Manchester, Newcastle, and Sheffield.
The funds will support NRG in continuing to expand its portfolio of gyms across the UK and the use of data and analytics to improve the member experience while creating a technology-led back-office infrastructure capable of allowing the business to scale at speed.
NRG has also recently strengthened its management team with the appointment of Neil Greenhalgh to its board as non-executive director.
Greenhalgh spent nearly 20 years at JD Sports, including five years as CFO. He was highly instrumental in devising and executing the strategy which saw the business grow from a small cap listed business with 330 stores across two countries, to a FTSE 100-listed global retailer. He played a central role in JD Sports opening its own gyms, as part of which he led the Xercise4Less gym chain acquisition process in 2020.
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Listed business advisory firm, Dow Schofield Watts (DSW), says it has played a key role in facilitating more than £809m-worth of deals in 2024, advising on 22 significant transactions spanning a range of sectors, including facilities management services, technology firms, food brands and more.
Despite challenging market conditions, the Dow Schofield Watts team saw an influx in deals in the lead up to the Autumn Budget, which contributed to an uptick in overall deal value. The total value of deals in 2024 marked a notable 36% increase from £594m in 2023, highlighting the firm’s strong position in the advisory space.
Private equity collaboration remained a central focus for Dow Schofield Watts in 2024. Of the deals completed, 10 saw the corporate finance teams working closely with private equity investors, providing strategic insight and advisory services to support growth.
Notable transactions included advising on the sale of Ruth Lee to Protect Medical, Alpine Fire Engineers’ acquisition of DAS Fir, Survey Solutions’ acquisition of JWG Survey & Engineering, Summa Equity’s investment into EA Technology and Three Hills’ investment into Operam Education.
Gregg Pendlington, partner in the Corporate Finance Team at Dow Schofield Watts in the North West, said: “This year has been a remarkable one for our team, marked by a flurry of successful deals. As we look ahead to 2025, our priority remains steadfast: delivering exceptional results and guiding our clients seamlessly through every stage of their transactions.”
Looking ahead, Dow Schofield Watts has recently made strategic board changes, in line with its ambitious plans for 2025. This includes the promotions of Shru Morris from Deputy CEO to CEO Designate, and Pete Fendall from Chief Operating Officer and Interim Chief Finance Officer to Chief Finance and Operating Officer.
Shru Morris said: “2024 has been an incredibly strong year for Dow Schofield Watts, and we are extremely proud of the progress we’ve made supporting businesses across the UK, particularly during a period of economic uncertainty. The ramp-up in activity around the Budget towards the end of the year gives us confidence that the market will continue to stabilise into 2025.”
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RAINMAKERS CONFERENCE IS BACK IN 2025
Our speakers have been revealed for the 2025 Rainmakers conference. They include those featured below, and many, many more.
twisted loop are excited to come on board as our headline partner. They join partners BGF, Dow Schofield Watts, KPMG, NorthEdge, Palatine, Shawbrook, Squire Patton Boggs & TDC.
Twisted Loop said: “This event is a testament to the strength and ambition of the North West’s business and investment community, bringing together an incredible range of talent, insight, and expertise.
A powerful line up of speakers including high-calibre private equity backed entrepreneurs such as Ruth Percival, Helen Oldham and Thomas Ryder, the founder of Applied Nutrition and the chief executive of the biggest UK stock market float of 2024.
Hot topics on the packed agenda include how to create success in tech, the art of building value in a growing business, and making the case for private equity and corporate finance professionals on the political stage.
Newsworthy speakers will also include Shru Morris, anointed successor DSW, and Dave Richards, founder of IntelliAM, who has a tale to tell about his experiences with tech business WANdisco, and founder of Palatine private equity Gary Tipper.
Also appearing to set the political backdrop to the eventful year just gone will be Karim Palant, head of external affairs at the BVCA, and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
So save the date for Rainmakers 2025 – Wednesday 26 March, 2025 – and secure your place today at The Point, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester.
It will bring more opportunities to network, more amazing speakers, more candid debate, more inspiring entrepreneurs, but also a chance to discuss the challenges of value creation.
The first Rainmakers Conference this March sold out, with more than 400 people attending to hear the insights and perspectives from entrepreneurs, investors and advisors, and to network with senior figures from across the corporate finance community.
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