Lights, camera, ACTION. Why Beech Tree bought Inspiro Learning
Our weekly free round up of key deals and major moves in the Rainmakers world
Hello Rainmakers,
Remember how the Stellex private equity deal to buy Fox Aggregates last year was fiendishly complicated and they bought two other businesses on the same day? Whoops, they’ve done it again. Buying another civils business.
We’ve also got buyouts in Birmingham and a few insights into what’s behind Beech Tree’s purchase of the former Babcock training business.
PLUS: our shortlist for the East Midlands Rainmakers is out.
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.
Private equity investor Beech Tree has bought Inspiro Learning Limited from the investor that carved the training provider out of global engineering giant Babcock in 2023.
Inspiro Learning delivers Apprenticeship and Commercial Training to the automotive, rail, energy and service sectors and is headquartered in Doncaster. The business, previously known as Babcock Training, works with major brands such as BMW, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, Network Rail, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and EDF.
The courses include practical training in high-class academies, learning in the workplace and online.
In the first year since the carve out the business doubled its turnover from £22.1m in 2023 to £44.5m in 2024.
On its accounts to the end of March 2024 the business made EBITDA of £4.5m, which is what private equity investors will work from to create a value for the business.
Beech Tree has only said it will bring “significant investment” to enhance service delivery, expand technical training capabilities into adjacent sectors, and pursue strategic acquisitions. It has also funded the deal with debt from Investec. But typically Beech Tree invests between £10 million – £40 million in “fast-growing profitable businesses” in technology, tech-enabled services, and financial services.
::
Provantage - over land and sea
Nottingham-headquartered Provantage Corporate Finance has gone global.
This week, the adviser became a founding member of a new international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) network aimed at "making cross-border deals more efficient".
The firm, which also has offices in Birmingham and London, has joined six other European advisers to launch 7oceans, a new alliance of independent M&A specialists. Founding members also include Taurus Advisory (Germany), Adviso (France), Nash Advisory (Italy), Stepstone Corporate Finance+ (Netherlands), Ramus & Company (Switzerland) and CKS Finance (Ireland).
Provantage says each firm will continue to operate independently but work together through shared databases, joint pitches, weekly deal calls and bi-annual global conferences. The aim is to give clients "better access to buyers and target companies across borders while maintaining trusted local relationships".
::
Last year US private equity investor Stellex bought Fox Brothers, the Blackpool-based construction materials provider, and swooped for two other businesses on the same day.
This week the bolt-on, Fox Brothers Holdings has acquired NMS Civil Engineering, but haven’t said for how much.
The Ashton-in-Makerfield-based contractor works in road planing, recycling, civil engineering and barriers. That’s not a typo, by the way. Roads are planed, as well as planned, but in this case, they are engaged in planing.
The acquisition marks another significant step in the Fox Group’s journey towards transforming the company into a fully integrated circular construction materials business, aiming to deliver sustainable solutions to the construction industry.
In July this year Fox also acquired Atherton-based J Fisher & Sons, a key player in heavy haulage, road planing and asphalt reprocessing.
The NMS acquisition is expected to drive synergies for the Fox Group, including the use of recycled asphalt planings (RAP) within the asphalt production process, with its new £4m Leyland Asphalt plant opened in July 2025.
Paul Fox, CEO of the Fox Group, said: “This is an extremely exciting time for the company and this acquisition will build on our recent expansion and further broaden our circular offering to customers bringing our annual use of recycled products close to two million tonnes.
“NMS has a strong management team, and we welcome them and their colleagues as we continue with our growth plans.
“We are committed to a smooth transition for the teams and customers of NMS and we anticipate success and growth through this synergistic partnership.”
::
Manchester-based consumer goods manufacturer and supplier Supreme is trying to ween itself of a dependence on vaping.
Its chairman Paul McDonald said the company has a “robust mergers and acquisitions pipeline” and told the company AGM this week that previous deals have fuelled new product development, including Typhoo tea.
As reported on TheBusinessDesk.com in July, Supreme, saw revenues and profits rise in the year to March 31, 2025, by 4% to £231.1m and pre-tax profits improved by 3% to £30.9m.
Most recently Supreme bought the 1001 carpet care brand earlier this month. The company is still a key player in the vape sector and recently moved into the soft drinks and hot beverages market following the acquisition of Clearly Drinks and Typhoo Tea.
“Acquisitions remain a core driver of Supreme’s growth strategy. The Company has a robust M&A pipeline, capable of offering opportunities across various product categories and markets. In turn, our M&A activity has fuelled new product development, as we leverage branded assets and manufacturing capabilities from various acquisitions,” McDonald said.
::
Historic Birmingham manufacturer Brandauer has stamped out its next chapter this week with a management buyout, financed by HSBC.
On board are current CEO Rowan Crozier, Manufacturing Director Stuart Berry, and Non-Exec Director David Chapman
Brandauer’s history dates back to the 1780s when Jean Petit, a French Huguenot refugee, fled to England to escape religious persecution, setting up a metalworking business in Birmingham. His grandson Joseph Petit followed in his industrial footsteps, later forming his own company Ash, Petit & Co in the 1850s.
Paul Rummer, who has been a shareholder and on the board for more than 17 years, said staying in UK ownership and in Birmingham was critical to the shareholders' decision to sell to management.
Berry, who started as an apprentice at Brandauer more than 20 years ago, added: “We are massive advocates of growing our own staff and apprentices, with nearly 25% of the workforce coming through this route. The MBO futureproofs the company for them, and the hope is that one of the next generation of the team will eventually take over from us.”
::
The shortlist for the 2025 East Midlands Rainmakers Awards, celebrating the corporate finance individuals and teams responsible for the top deals of the year, has been revealed!
Finance professionals from 40 firms gathered at Experian in Nottingham on Wednesday (September 17), to select the shortlist from the individuals and teams responsible for arranging hundreds of deals, mergers and acquisitions over last 12 months.
View the shortlist here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dPeaGhKX
Voting to choose the finalists is now open on a one-firm, one-vote basis. The awards will be presented at a relaxed evening of celebration at the Crowne Plaza in Nottingham on 📆 Wednesday, November 5.
Rainmakers is kindly sponsored by Dow Schofield Watts, Fiscal Engineers Ltd, Gateley Legal and TheBusinessGrid.
::
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.
::
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 paid subscriber.