Deals revealed after deadline dash
Flurry of activity after Rainmakers enjoyed and endured manic October
Hello Rainmakers,
This week, we marked the milestone of our 100th story. In truth, we could have probably written close to that number over the last ten days alone.
The run-up to the Budget certainly sparked the corporate finance market into action; the sheer number of deals we've been alerted to over the last week-and-a-half showed that. Although business owners don't seem too happy with the Chancellor's growth plans, the fear of an October 30 deadline has ensured good post-summer growth for Rainmakers across the UK.
Law firm Freeths this week told us they'd completed 70 deals in the last month — more than two a day, my maths experts tell me. I'm sure there are others in the corporate finance community who can tell similar tales of late nights, evening pizza deliveries to the office and an out-of-control caffeine addiction.
Business owners have until April to maximise the value of their life's work. Full steam ahead.
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ON RAINMAKERS THIS WEEK
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YFM TAKES REPLAY TO GO THROUGH NEXT ROUND
Among the avalanche of deals news this week was the tale of Nottinghamshire-based Replay Maintenance, a specialist in synthetic sports surface maintenance, changing ownership in an MBO.
Spearheaded by managing director Nick Harris, the buyout marks a step forward for the company, which has become a trusted name in maintaining athletics tracks, 3G pitches, and tennis courts across the UK.
YFM stepped in with the small matter of a £6.5m funding package to grease the wheels of the deal, which will see a team at Replay drive further growth by building upon Replay’s existing client base and expanding into new market areas.
One to watch, for sure.
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GLOBAL GROWTH PLANS SEES FUNDERS CROUD IN
ECI Partners has taken a major step forward in the digital marketing space by acquiring a majority stake in Croud, a fast-growing digital marketing agency. The £77.6m club loan secured from OakNorth, HSBC, Investec, and Barclays is set to drive Croud’s ambitious expansion, fueling further acquisitions and accelerating global growth.
The transaction also marks a successful exit for LDC, which supported Croud with a transformative £30m investment in 2019.
Founded in 2011 by digital marketing visionaries—ex-Googler Luke Smith and former Harvest Digital head Ben Knight—Croud has expanded to over 600 employees across offices in London, Shrewsbury, New York, Atlanta, and Dubai. The agency has an impressive client roster, working with renowned brands such as International Workplace Group (IWG), Selfridges, Amazon’s Audible and Prime Video, and Nespresso.
Croud’s US business has grown rapidly since LDC’s backing and now accounts for almost a third of the company’s revenue, and overall revenue has increased by more than 360% and headcount by more than 250%.
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REASONS FOR MORIARTY ACQUISITION ARE ELEMENTARY
We often hear about the booming commercial property market in Yorkshire, with demand for high quality, well-located industrial/logistics units and office space showing no signs of slowing down.
Aiming to capitalise on this, commercial real estate advisor, CPP, has acquired Moriarty & Co, a move which should strengthen its industrial and logistics platform across Yorkshire and the Midlands and launch into the North West and other regional markets.
CPP already operates from offices in Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham and London and it can now enjoy further significant growth. The takeover of Moriarty will bring a 6m sq ft order book to CPP, comprising existing buildings and an immediate development pipeline, creating a combined UK-wide platform of more than 25m sq ft.
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CYBER ATTACKS FUEL GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
Hacking and phishing are rapidly becoming the bane of businesses as fraudsters develop ever more sophisticated scams to perpetrate their vile crimes, in many cases harnessing AI to aid their heinous exploits.
Dropping their guard could lead to disastrous consequences for hard-grafting business owners, and their staff as the frequency of cyber attacks increase.
But one burgeoning start-up has attracted the fulsome backing of Manchester-based Praetura Ventures in the shape of a multimillion-pound support package to enable its ongoing growth.
Manchester-based CloudGuard will be able to create up to 20 cybersecurity jobs over the next 12 months as a result of the NPIF II-Praetura Equity Finance package.
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