Female founders, Kingdom conquers, ANS on block and Alunet acquired for £29m
PLUS: Palatine's Gary Tipper on investing in the regions and why it matters
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Female founders boosted by £50m of Start Up Loans support
The British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme has provided 5,820 loans worth over £50m to female-owned businesses in one region alone.
With 36% of loans provided going to female entrepreneurs, the milestone underscores the Bank’s commitment to supporting underrepresented founders in the UK. This compares to government data showing just 18% of smaller companies with employees were female led in 2022.
Recent female Start Up Loan recipients include Lauren Rowland and Hannah Muir, founders of pottery painting studio and bar, Craft + Common, who secured £25,000 each of Start Up Loan funding to open their studio and purchase equipment to get started.
Other female founders in the region include Lisa Storey, founder of EZ Hampers, a sustainable gift company and Dani Wallace, founder of I Am The Queen Bee, which provides resources and training to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and improve their public speaking.
Alongside the funding it provides through the Start Up Loans programme, the British Business Bank also supports a number of initiatives aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs. This includes Lifted Ventures, which aims to increase the flow of early-stage capital to female founders in the UK.
Louise McCoy, Managing Director, Start Up Loans Products at British Business Bank said: “The British Business Bank is dedicated to supporting underrepresented groups and this milestone is just another example of the fantastic work the Start Up Loans programme is doing to make funding easier to access for women who want to set up or grow a business.”
Craft + Common - “we could never imagine our idea would come to life”
Craft + Common, an all-in-one pottery painting studio and bar founded by friends Lauren Rowland and Hannah Muir in 2023, secured a Start Up Loan to support the move into its first premises in Lytham St Annes. The business secured £50k of funding from the Start Up Loans programme with the support of its Business Support Partner, GC Business Finance (GCBF). The finance was used to support the purchase of its first studio and acquire crucial equipment to get things running.
Craft + Common offers pottery painting and ‘paint and sip’ events in a fun, relaxing, and social environment. Following the success of its first studio it has now opened a second premises in Lymm, with plans to expand even more.
Lauren Rowland, co-founder of Craft + Common, said: “We never could have imagined how our little idea would have come to life, and we have achieved so much success in just two years. We’re very grateful for the support we have received from our local community and beyond.
“The Start Up Loan funding from GCBF supported us in getting started and we wouldn’t be where we are now without it. We have opened a second studio in Lymm which has received lots of support from the local community and we’re excited to see what is next for us.”
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Smooth ride
Swedish industrial giant Teqnion has revved up its portfolio by acquiring Wolverhampton-based fueling expert Merridale, marking its seventh acquisition in under two years.
Merridale, a leader in commercial fueling solutions with over 5,000 sites across Europe, will continue to fuel growth under Teqnion’s ownership.
Co-founders Paul Ledbury and John Russell are staying on to keep the engine running during the transition.
Johan Steene, Teqnion’s CEO said: “We are delighted to welcome the Merridale team to the Teqnion family. Precise fuel management is essential for a successful and sustainable business, and Paul, John, and their colleagues have the perfect system to make it happen.”
Looks like a smooth ride ahead.
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This united Kingdom
Facilities management and services group Kingdom has acquired FPR Group, a specialist recruitment business in the Industrial & Manufacturing, Food and Horticultural, Technical & Engineering, and Health & Social Care sectors.
The acquired business will be integrated into the Kingdom Group, based at Newton-le-Willows, and be rebranded as Kingdom People.
The Senior Leadership Team at Brighton-based FPR, originally known as First People Recruitment, will remain in place, ensuring continuity and smooth transition for 80+ customers and the new 1,000+ workforce joining Kingdom.
In accounts posted in January 2025 for the year ending May 2024, FPR Group made pre-tax profits of £725,782 on turnover of £20.6m.
Kingdom works across security, cleaning, systems and training and now employs over 11,500 people and has a turnover of £300m.
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Inflexion to sell ANS
Inflexion, the private equity owner of ANS is seeking to sell the server hosting and tech business for as much as £400m.
Inflexion and ANS management have never acknowledged the stain on the reputation of the business caused by its founder, the rapist Lawrence Jones, who is currently serving a long prison sentence.
The Manchester-based company rebranded from UK Fast to the name of its smaller subsidiary ANS as Jones awaited trial and after he had left the business following an internal inquiry into its culture.
It would appear that Arma Partners have been deployed to sell ANS which made £24m in EBITDA on turnover of £129m according to its most recent filed accounts to the year ending December 2023.
Inflexion said they would not comment.
Businesses offering technology and communications infrastructure, and with recurring revenue from contracted business clients, are valued on a multiple of 21.64 times earnings according to the research business Equidam, justifying the initial £400m valuation, which appears to be at the low end.
Last year Arma sold Options Technology to Vitruvian, the acquisition of £1bn valued Focus Group by Hg Capital, but it was the sale of Mission Cloud Services to listed US acquiror, CDW which will bears the closest comparison to ANS.
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Sliding Doors
Eurocell plc, a manufacturer, distributor and recycler of PVC window, door and roofline products, has acquired Dewsbury-based Alunet for £29m on a debt/cash free basis.
This comprises an initial payment of £22m and deferred consideration of approximately £7m payable in four annual instalments beginning in 2026. In addition, there is the potential for performance related payments of up to £6m over the same period
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The deal is designed to advance Eurocell’s strategy, significantly strengthening its position in residential aluminium systems and composite doors, and adds garage doors to its product portfolio.
Alunet, which employs about 200 people, delivered unaudited revenues of £43m and EBITDA of £4.5m for the year ended 31 December 2024.
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Investing in the regions and why it matters.
Viewpoint By Gary Tipper, Managing Partner, Palatine.
The North is home to around 1.1 million businesses, more than 7.7 million jobs, and over 15 million people. Our economy is worth around £343 billion, 19% of the UK total, and if it was a standalone country, it would be the 27th largest in the world (and probably in President Trump’s cross hairs for a Greenland-style takeover bid!).
So, the size of the opportunity here is clear.
As a proud and passionate Northern investor, we believe that regionally focused firms have an important role to play in delivering the growth we all want to see.
We’ve obviously all heard of the Northern Powerhouse and its successor initiative ‘Levelling Up’. Despite the transience of the political cycle, I believe these labels were helpful in shedding light on the scale of the challenge in closing the productivity gap between the North and the South.
As ever, actions and deeds speak louder than words. It’s been encouraging to see the progress being achieved by the Northern mayors over the last decade as powers and resources have shifted from Whitehall to the regions.
While a devolved approach to political decision making maybe a relatively new concept, it’s not the case for PE. Palatine –and a select few other Northern firms –have been successfully raising funds and investing them without input from a London head office for several decades.
I believe being here, close to the advisers and the companies themselves, is the most effective way for a relationship and people-focused investor like Palatine.
It’s beyond doubt that Manchester is a key hub. In the 30 years I’ve been working here, there have been many changes as the private equity market matured.
As the market has evolved, it’s been pleasing to see other Northern PE houses establish themselves and raise significant funds in the regions, proving that like Palatine, you don’t have to be headquartered in London to be successful.
We have a strong financial and advisory ecosystem in the North. So much so that for the vast majority of deals, there’s no reason to go to London.
Where I think we need to be collectively better is telling a positive story about what PE delivers in the regions.
In the mid-market the driver for our returns is not leverage or financial engineering, but about investing in growing businesses. That means working with management teams to achieve operational improvements, deliver effective buy and build strategies and embed best-practice in terms of sustainability which in turn adds value and builds stronger regional businesses.
As an industry we are starting to increase awareness of what we call “positive equity”, but there are still misconceptions that regional mid-market PE firms are the same as the big European and US buyout houses.
This education piece is something the BVCA is in dialogue with the Treasury and we’re supporting locally too.
There is more work to be done, not least in explaining the threat posed by pension fund pooling. If – as has been suggested by the Government – local government pension funds are to be amalgamated even further, this will hinder their ability to invest in smaller UK focused funds of less than £500m. This would be a massive blow to the regional UK PE industry and as such to regional economies.
So, there’s a job to educate politicians and officials that what we, and other regional players provide is a key part of the funding ecosystem. Events like the Rainmakers conference are therefore a great opportunity to make our collective voice heard.
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River Capital - how it invests and what it looks for
This week did a deep dive into River, and met CEO Mark Borzomato.
Friendly, fun and informal, and in an industry whose London equivalents we have mocked on these pages, it would be easy to say Mark Borzomato stands out as a refreshing exception to them.
But he was rather keen point to plenty of other characters who work hard and build their own reputations.
In his case though, his authentic, down-to-earth approach to supporting growing businesses works just fine.
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Binding agreement
Two legal powerhouses, Wilkin Chapman and Rollits, are joining forces on April 1 under the new name Wilkin Chapman Rollits.
The merger will create a firm with over 500 people, 70 partners and a £40m turnover.
With six locations across Grimsby, Lincoln, Hull, York, Louth, and Beverley, it’ll be the biggest law firm operating out of both Lincolnshire and Yorkshire – a merger that’s been decades in the making.
Robin Simmonds, CEO of Wilkin Chapman said: “There is a great synergy between the two firms across culture, values and strategy and we believe the new firm will provide our clients with the responsive, personal tailored support that they expect.”
Sounds like a binding agreement for success!
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Ain’t no mountain high enough
Challenger bank OakNorth made pre-tax profits of £214.8m in 2024 and lent £2.1bn and is looking to bolster its teams in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.
To date, OakNorth’s total cumulative credit facilities have grown to £12.5bn – up from £10.2bn at the end of 2023, with a return on equity of 22%.
OakNorth targets what it describes as the “missing middle” of lower mid-market customers, and claims its loans have directly supported the creation of over 56,000 jobs and over 34,000 new homes.
OakNorth also began operating in the US in mid-2023 and by the end of 2024, had lent $685m to fast-growing, entrepreneurial businesses there.
Regional UK businesses it has backed include Total Fitness, Hurstwood, Ultimate Performance and agreement on a bespoke facility to Huddersfield headquartered premium nursery brand, Mamas & Papas, to support future growth, and a £15m loan to Palatine private equity-backed, creative cocktail bar and restaurant group, The Alchemist, to open 10 new sites over the next three years.
In an exclusive interview with the Rainmakers service from TheBusinessDesk.com this week, Stewart Haworth, director of debt finance, said the bank needs to expand the teams to do deals: “We’ve got three or four adverts out for people across the north at the minute – they’ll be right in the thick of it, because they’ll be on the tools. And we’ll see 10 times the volume, and we’ll probably transact four times the volume that anyone else will do.”
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RAINMAKERS CONFERENCE - LESS THAN THREE WEEKS TO GO
Clare Roberts will be telling the remarkable story at the Rainmakers of how she continues to build up her nursery business Kids Planet.
First backed by BGF in 2016, the nursery group was acquired by Fremman Capital, but having gone through significant investment to support an organic and acquisitive growth strategy, she knows plenty about follow-on rounds, as well as integrating a businesses once acquired.
Clare Roberts founded Kids Planet after struggling to find appropriate childcare following the birth of her first daughter. She quit her job in the pharmaceutical industry and launched the business, alongside her sister and father, who had previously run and sold a successful nursery chain.
Now, the business includes 167 nurseries and is responsible for the care of over 20,000 children.
“BGF invested in August 2016 and provided several rounds of follow-on funding. When they first invested, we had 16 nurseries, and by the time they exited, we had 84,” she says.
“The plan is to get to 250 nurseries in five years. We want to keep growing through acquisitions while also developing new sites. Of course, it’s important to make sure we’re geared up for future growth so that we can absorb new sites and people aren’t too stretched.”
So save the date for Rainmakers 2025 – Wednesday 26 March, 2025 – and secure your place today.
The Point, Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester.
The 2025 Rainmakers Conference is being supported by BGF, Dow Schofield Watts, NorthEdge, Palatine, Shawbrook, Squire Patton Boggs, while PHD Industrial Holdings is a breakout room partner.
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