Tag Archives: acquisition

Acquisitions & Partnerships, Business Expansion, Cardiff

Aqua Cars joins forces with Veezu

Veezu, the UK’s biggest and fastest-growing private hire firm, is extending its reach further south with the acquisition of Aqua Cars in Portsmouth.

The acquisition opens new horizons for Aqua, promising an elevated private hire experience for its driver-partners and their passengers.

Launched in 2013, Veezu invests heavily in data, technology, and infrastructure to ensure that hyperlocal private hire operators like Aqua Cars remain part of their community, without compromising the passenger experience.

Aqua Cars’ head office in Portsmouth will become part of the Veezu Group, alongside Bridge Cars in Gosport and Andi Cars in Havant.

Ronnie Leng, Co-Owner of Aqua Cars, said: “Joining forces with Veezu is a natural next step for us to further support our local community by improving the passenger experience. The implementation of new technologies will ensure a more reliable, safe, and easy service for passengers and will aid more than 600 drivers that we partner with across the region.”

Arnie Singh Chief Operations Officer of Veezu, said: “We’re so pleased to welcome the whole Aqua team to Veezu. Their reputation for excellence proceeds them and is one we will maintain through the partnership.

“As our first acquisition of 2024, following a number of successful acquisitions last year including Britannia Taxis in Merseyside, it highlights that our growth strategy continues. We’re thrilled to expand further south and develop our strong network of areas across the UK.”

News, Technology

Veracode has acquired Crashtest Security to enhance its DAST capabilities

Veracode has acquired Crashtest Security to enhance the existing DAST capabilities available as part of Veracode’s Continuous Software Security Platform and broaden customer access globally.

Web applications are fast becoming the most exploited attack vector for cyber threat actors looking to infiltrate enterprises and critical infrastructure. In fact, web apps now account for 40 percent of breaches.

The Crashtest Security product makes it even easier to get started with web application scanning in runtime environments to find vulnerabilities that static analysis is not best suited for. This solution complements Veracode’s platform capabilities as part of a complete modern application security program that secures the entire software development life cycle (SDLC).

Brian Roche, Chief Product Officer at Veracode, said, “Our customers have never been under greater pressure to secure their web applications in response to heightened risk. They seek simple-to-use products that can be onboarded quickly and seamlessly. The Crashtest Security product offers just the solution—it is a highly innovative DAST tool and already has deep roots in the European market. This acquisition supports the growing demand for run-time scanning and allows customers to quickly and easily experience the latest developments in DAST.”

Crashtest Security dynamic analysis

The solution can be used to analyze JavaScript-based apps, REST (Representational state transfer) APIs, and traditional web apps, and automate security testing via integration in the software development pipeline.

Veracode will incorporate the Crashtest tool into its existing portfolio, allowing customers to use the same login credentials across both products. Users will be able to leverage the aspects of the integrated technology for a 360-degree view of scanning and reporting architecture across all applications utilizing a DAST product.

Felix Brombacher, CEO of Crashtest Security, said, “We are thrilled to extend advanced DAST capability to a broader market. We have invested heavily in our plug-and-play solution to meet the demands of customers in Europe and enable continuous testing throughout the development process. The acquisition of our dynamic analysis technology and resources by Veracode will enable us to deliver the next generation of DAST to customers globally.”

News

Lintbells -home of YuMOVE- acquires leading pet mobility brand Walkin’Pets

Lintbells, the leader in premium natural pet supplements and home of YuMOVE, the veterinary joint supplement brand, has today announced the acquisition of leading US provider of pet mobility aids, Walkin’ Pets. The acquisition is part of Lintbells’ global growth strategy as it continues its mission to give pets a more active life, by making the most life-changing differences to cats and dogs around the world.

Walkin’ Pets was established by Mark Robinson in 2001 in Amherst, New Hampshire, USA. The company offers a range of support products designed to extend an active and high-quality life to pets including wheelchairs, harnesses and braces. It has built a reputation for innovation and high-quality care of pets and customers.

The acquisition will enable Lintbells to extend the breadth of its support in the UK from pet supplements into physical support products – a natural and exciting progression for the brand as it continues its growth trajectory.

Lintbells, which already has a significant footprint in the US with its fast-growing supplements business, plans to grow sales not only by expanding their newly acquired mobility aids business, but also introducing their market-leading* YuMOVE supplements to the Walkin’ Pets community.

Not limited to the United States, Walkin’ Pets’ international distribution network will also open up new markets for YuMOVE both in the UK and Europe.

Commenting on the acquisition, Fiona Hope, CEO Lintbells – Home of YuMOVE, says: “The Lintbells mission and values align perfectly with Walkin’ Pets, so I’m delighted to welcome the brand and team into the Lintbells family. We both share a deep commitment to helping pets stay ‘active for life’ and are well-known for the efficacy and science behind our products as well as the highest levels of customer care and educational support. Lintbells is an ambitious business, and this acquisition moves us into a completely new but aligned sector and supports our global growth strategy as we move towards becoming a global pet healthcare company.”

John Howie, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Lintbells – Home of YuMOVE, says: “It’s a pleasure to welcome the Walkin’ Pets team into the Lintbells group. Just like Lintbells, they’re on a mission to give pets the joy of mobility. There is clearly a common culture to our teams, clear synergies between our two product offerings, and I’m sure that working together will bring great benefits to customers of both our businesses.”

News

BCS Joins RSBG to Support Further Growth

BCS, the digital built asset consultancy, has announced it is joining RSBG SE, the patient capital investment arm of RAG Stiftung, a foundation with the long-term public purpose to deal with environmental protection.

Under the terms of the deal, RSBG will become a long-term investor in BCS which has doubled the size of its business in the past 12 months, supporting its continuing growth and development.  RSBG has over 65 locations across 30 countries which will drive expansion and internationalisation, enabling BCS to continue to support its clients in the geographies they need to be.

The move will see no changes to the BCS management team, personnel, brand or day to day operations. The company will also benefit from a strategic partnership with McBains, a leading property and construction consultancy, as part of RSBG’s Project Management pillar, and together they will be able to access the ingredients for growth offered by the group. The new parent company of The BCS Consulting Group Ltd is MBC Group Ltd. James Hart, CEO of BCS and Clive Docwra, Managing Director of McBains, will sit together on the board of MBC.

James Hart, CEO at BCS, said: “RSBG is an experienced partner and investor who specialises in the acquisition, expansion and internationalisation of medium-sized companies. We believe they have a unique model for investing in small and medium sized entrepreneurial companies and, since they launched, they have grown into a collaborative network supporting over 6,500 careers across the globe. RSBG’s mission is to generate sustainable funds for the foundation, so our work will be directly contributing to protecting the environment.”

Clive Docwra, Managing Director, McBains, said: “We very much welcome the addition of BCS as a sister company and believe it provides ourselves and the wider group with an even stronger project and cost management offering; bringing access to new sectors and a wider geography”.

International News, Law, News, North of England

Taylors Solicitors advises iconic sailing brand Henri-Lloyd on its sale to ODLO

A Switzerland-based performance brand is to acquire iconic UK sailing and lifestyle brand Henri-Lloyd Group.

A team at north west law firm Taylors Solicitors has advised the owners of Henri-Lloyd on the sale to ODLO, a specialist sport and outdoor clothing brand which is owned by Monta Rosa Capital.

The acquisition, for a substantial undisclosed sum, is expected to be completed shortly.

Taylors’ team of advisers was led by corporate partners Andrew Livesey and Matthew Catterall and the firm’s head of commercial property, partner John Lomax.

Andrew said: “Henri-Lloyd is an iconic British brand, and we are delighted to have been able to work with the business over the past few years, culminating in the current deal with ODLO.

“It is a pleasure and a privilege to be associated with such a dynamic business and team of individuals, and a brand that is instantly recognised worldwide. This was a particularly pressurised deal, with a substantial amount of detail to be dealt with in a short timescale.

“There were plenty of early starts and late finishes, with all of the professional team fully focused on the task in hand.”

Taylors advised Henri-Lloyd when it last changed hands in 2018, when the brand and valuable assets were acquired out of administration by a group of investors led by Hans Eckerström with the aim of re-establishing the company as the premier brand for yachtsmen and sailors around the world.

Henri-Lloyd was established in Manchester in 1963 and has 85 staff in its UK retail business.

Hans Eckerström, chairman of Henri-Lloyd, said: “The acquisition of Henri-Lloyd by ODLO opens up tremendous opportunities for the brand to reach its true potential to the benefit of all shareholders, both current and future.

“Joining a family of successful companies that share values and goals will accelerate our growth. Most importantly that journey will be based on quality, innovation and striving for sustainability – principles that the Henri-Lloyd team hold dearly.”

Henri-Lloyd was founded by Henri Strzelecki, who set out to create the world’s best and most durable waterproof clothing. He created several world-firsts within technical clothing that have today become industry standards, including seam taping garments for waterproofing and the invention of the nylon non-corrosive zip.

The Henri-Lloyd team will continue to be located in Manchester, and will collaborate with the ODLO group in the development of the brand and a new generation of innovative products.

ODLO chairman Hugo Maurstad said: “We are excited about including Henri-Lloyd into our family of brands. It is an iconic brand with a proud history. Together we aspire to further expand its product range and geographic footprint.

“Henri-Lloyd and ODLO are both companies that originated from technical innovations in outdoor sport apparel and they will complement each other going forward.”

ODLO chief executive Knut Are Høgberg said: “By leveraging ODLO’s comprehensive infrastructure, we can concentrate investments towards the Henri-Lloyd brand and its customers while progressing on the ambitious sustainability agenda of all brands within ODLO International.

“We warmly welcome the Henri-Lloyd team to the ODLO family and look forward to working together going forward.”

News

Grant Thornton leads on strategic sale of Incentive FM Group

Grant Thornton UK LLP’s Corporate Finance team has completed its fourth deal in the built environment sector in 2022, as it has led the strategic sale of Incentive FM Group to leading global facilities management group Atalian Servest. 

Established in 2001 and headquartered in London, Incentive FM Group provides a unique offering of total FM services, from cleaning, security, front of house to technical services (M&E), landscaping, waste management and consultancy. 

The acquisition is a strategic move to expand Atalian Servest’s core service offering, reinforcing its sectors of focus, and adding further scale and experience. 

Incentive FM Group has around 2,600 employees and annual revenues of £80m.  The deal will also allow Atalian Servest to offer specialist consultancy and project management services to its customers, further complementing its existing range of services. 

Martin Reed, CEO of Incentive FM Group, along with the executive management and operational teams, will remain in the business to ensure continuity of service excellence and pre-existing relationships. 

Daniel Dickson, CEO Atalian Servest UK & Ireland, commented: “The acquisition is part of our ambition to accelerate our growth trajectory within the UK & Ireland. We are looking forward to driving value and building strategic partnerships with Incentive FM’s clients, while offering a wider range of services to our existing client portfolio.” 

Martin Reed, CEO Incentive FM Group, added: “We are looking forward to joining the Atalian Servest team and build on Incentive FM Group’s success of the last 20 years. Our vision has always been to have a workforce and clients who love working with us, and I know they are all in safe hands as we look to further develop our relationships with them.” 

The sale of Incentive FM Group marks another deal completed in an active built environment sector for Grant Thornton’s Corporate Finance team, following the sale of ISS Damage Control to Polygon (Sweden), TSS (Total Security Solutions) to Blackstone PE backed, Allied Universal Services (US) and Asset Plus to Johnson Controls (US) in the first half of 2022. 

Usman Malik, Partner and Head of Business Services at Grant Thornton UK LLP, said: “Incentive FM is a high quality business which attracted significant interest from global trade and Private Equity. It is a great strategic fit for Atalian Servest. 

“We are seeing significant investor interest in FM and the wider business services sector due to the essential nature of the services they provide, ensuring visibility of income at time of significant uncertainty in the wider market.” 

Mergers & Acquisitions, News

Infinigate to acquire the Nuvias Group, creating a pan-European Cyber Security powerhouse to generate an anticipated 1.4 billion Euros by 2023

Woking, UK– 5 July 2022 – Infinigate Group, the pan-European value-added distributor (VAD) of Cyber Security solutions today announced the intended acquisition of Nuvias Group’s Cyber Security and Secure Networking business to create a pan-European Cyber Security powerhouse. The merging of the two highly successful businesses establishes Infinigate’s place as a leading VAD focused on Cyber Security in Europe with an anticipated 1.4 billion Euro in revenue. Subject to regulatory approval, closing is expected in the fourth quarter

This acquisition will create a platform of continued above-market growth in EMEA, bolstering Infinigate’s leadership position in Europe across Cyber Security, Secure Networking and Secure Cloud, serving the SMB to Enterprise and Service Provider market segments. Due to increased relevance, larger geographical footprint, and extended vendor portfolio, Infinigate aims to continue to grow annually by more than 20%.

Founded by Rigby Private Equity in 2015, the Nuvias Group has a strong heritage in VAD, having begun its original trading journey 45 years ago. It specialises in Cyber Security and Intelligent Networking with a range of innovative services and solutions designed to secure customer success and accelerate partner and vendor growth.

Infinigate Group has a track record of consistent year-on-year growth since its foundation in 1996 – something it attributes to its distinct customer-centric approach. The union of the two VADs will combine the best of both worlds.

Klaus Schlichtherle, CEO of Infinigate Group said: “Infinigate will become even more relevant and powerful. We will have a stronger geographical footprint, especially in the core markets in Europe – where we will have a strong position in 18 countries. Our complementary vendor portfolios will create a huge opportunity for growth. And bringing together so many skilled people will enable us to create lots of new development opportunities in a fast-growing company. Infinigate will continue to be an exciting place to be for key value add talent and a place to develop competencies, careers and opportunities.”

Simon England, CEO of the Nuvias Group said: “We are excited about joining forces and combining our assets to take the business and teams into the next phase of growth and expansion. Both companies value their people as their most critical asset, and the key to rewarding customer and vendor experiences in specialist distribution.”

Infinigate Group and Nuvias Group both have leading portfolios in Cyber Security for the SMB sector – which will further accelerate growth. Both companies are VADs with excellent services, offering best-in-class-services (training, pre-sales, support, etc.) for customers and vendors. And having both specialised in Cyber Security, Secure Networking and Secure Cloud for decades, their alliance represents an exceptionally high competence and expertise. Combined, they will gain even better customer access and will be able to further strengthen customer relationships.

“After closing the transaction, we aim to continue to grow the joint enterprise by more than 20% annually, and we will continue to address existing as well as new customers in a coordinated fashion. Nuvias and Infinigate have very similar strategies moving forward and will constantly stay focused on this,” explained Schlichtherle.

The acquisition will significantly upgrade the presence of Infinigate Group in UK, France, Benelux and Nordics territory, as well as covering Southern Europe and entering the market in Eastern Europe. Infinigate’s strong base in Germany and Nuvias’ in the UK is an example of the complementary portfolios. And additionally, Nuvias Group brings its enterprise customer segment.

Infinigate Group will serve its extended base of vendors with upgraded relevance, best-in-class execution and an enhanced digital platform for further innovation and growth and improve its performance.

The Unified Communications business of Nuvias Group (Nuvias UC) is not part of the transaction and will be a separate entity under the continued ownership of Rigby Group. Rigby Private Equity will be a shareholder in the Infinigate Group.

News

Lucion Group’s Delta-Simons acquires Ground Engineering Ltd

Delta-Simons the leading multi-disciplinary environmental and health and safety consultancy division of the Lucion Group, has completed a key strategic acquisition in the East of England. 

Peterborough-based Ground Engineering Ltd, which specialises in the provision of site investigation services and geotechnical testing, strengthens Delta-Simons’ Geo-Environmental team, bringing additional site investigation expertise, capability and also enhancing its geographical footprint. 

The bolt-on deal, which brings a skilled team of 24 geotechnical engineers, geologists, laboratory technicians and drilling operators to Delta-Simons is the first acquisition since its own integration into fast-growing private equity-backed environmental services company Lucion Group in April 2021. 

Ground Engineering has a distinguished history in the sector, tracing its roots back to 1936 when it was founded as Pre-Piling Surveys Ltd, which later became Soils Engineering.  

Today, the company offers geotechnical and geo-environmental ground investigation and associated professional services to a wide range of civil engineering, construction, housing, environmental management and financial sectors. 

Working mostly in the East of England, London and the South East, the team’s activities are supported by its UKAS ISO 17025 accredited geotechnical and construction materials testing laboratory. 

Ground Engineering’s directors Chris Ebeling and Steve Fleming will remain with the business moving forward, supported by the Delta-Simons leadership team.   

Chris Ebeling said: “We decided it was the right time to join forces with a larger group of companies to ensure the future sustainability, growth and success of the business. Our team have built a strong reputation for providing high-quality, trusted geotechnical services to our clients.  

“When presented with the opportunity to join a progressive group of companies and specialising in similar services, we immediately recognised the synergies and saw it as a fantastic opportunity for our team.” 

Alex Ferguson, Managing Director of Delta-Simons, added: “As an ambitious, purpose-driven and client-focused company we are always looking to strengthen our team with the addition of high quality acquisitions. 

“We are therefore delighted to bring the Ground Engineering team into Delta-Simons and the wider Lucion Group. They are a great fit for our existing GeOps division, which continues to grow from strength to strength.  

“We’ve had a really busy start to 2022 as we continue to scale the group of businesses in line with our strategic growth plan and look forward to making further progress this year with strong organic growth delivered alongside further potential strategic acquisitions.” 

James Winterbottom, Senior Investment Director at Palatine, Lucion Group’s private equity investor since 2019 added: “Alongside strong organic growth across the business we have been pleased to support Lucion Group with a number of value-enhancing bolt-on acquisitions over recent months and we look forward to working with the team to further deliver their strategic growth ambitions in the second half of 2022.” 

The transaction was supported by business advisers BDO and HSBC. 

Acquisitions & Partnerships, News

Hampleton Partners advises akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH on its acquisition by Pathlock backed by Vertica Capital Partners

London, UK – 18 May 2022 – Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, has advised akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH, a leading provider of SAP cybersecurity & access governance software, on its acquisition by Pathlock backed by New York-based Vertica Capital Partners, a growth-oriented private equity investor with a focus on the software sector.

akquinet’s SAST SOLUTIONS software suite, consulting experts and managed services provide all-round protection for classic SAP systems as well as S/4HANA. The SAST software suite is a holistic software solution for real-time monitoring of SAP systems and provides protection against compliance violations, data loss and cybersecurity attacks. SAST SOLUTIONS targets national SMEs as well as international blue-chip customers across a wide range of industries.

The acquisition is backed by Vertica Capital Partners, an experienced software investor with an existing cybersecurity portfolio, and will create an international player in the field of application security software.

Bodo Kahl, managing director of akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH, said: “With its many years of experience and sector expertise, Hampleton acted as a trusted and competent partner at our side from the very start. It was particularly important for us to select a partner who understood the aspects of cybersecurity and the value of SAST SOLUTIONS to actively support us in the process with Vertica Capital Partners. In working with Hampleton, we found Vertica Capital Partners to be the ideal partner for the future of akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH.”

Axel Brill, director at Hampleton, commented: “We are delighted to have worked with akquinet enterprise solutions GmbH to shape the continuation of its successful business model. Vertica Capital Partners’ acquisition will empower the SAST product portfolio to enter extremely interesting markets beyond the DACH region.”

Following the acquisition of DOCUFY GmbH to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Tradebyte Software GmbH to Zalando, CPU 24/7 to IAV and the acquisition of FAST LTA by Afinum, this transaction represents a further milestone in the German-speaking market and is further evidence of Hampleton’s M&A expertise in the technology sector, where more than 100 mandates have been completed to date.

The engagement was led by Axel Brill and Henrik Jeberg.

International News, News

Palatine-backed Suntera Global establishes US presence with strategic acquisition

Suntera Global has acquired US fund administration business Socium Fund Services in a key strategic move as the firm continues to grow and expand its international footprint into new global markets.
The acquisition of Socium, which requires no regulatory approval and completes with immediate effect, will strengthen Suntera Global’s offering for fund managers and provide the group with an important US operation for the first time, adding three key North American locations to its international footprint.
The deal is the seventh strategic acquisition made by Suntera Global since securing investment from leading mid-market investor Palatine in 2019.
Founded in 2016, Socium has its headquarters in New Jersey, and with additional offices in California and Arizona, provides a pan-US proposition. A specialist provider of high-quality and boutique fund administration services to private equity, private credit, venture capital and real estate focused fund managers, Socium has deep sector experience in offering a full suite of solutions including accounting and administration, investor services, reporting services, treasury, tax, and regulatory and compliance services.
Socium differentiates itself in the highly competitive fund market by being more than just a service provider. With their entrepreneurial approach, they strive to build long term partnerships with each of their clients and provide them with 24/7/365 live data access through their leading technology platform.
The Socium team will join the Suntera Global team immediately and will become “Socium, a Suntera Global Company”.
In joining Suntera Global, Socium will provide on-the-ground expertise and help raise Suntera Global’s profile in the strategically important US market, complementing the firm’s existing global funds expertise and its international network across the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta and Switzerland.
Andy Lees, Partner at Palatine, said: “We are delighted to support this acquisition, Suntera’s second of 2022 so far, which provides the business with an important strategic foothold in the US market and the addition of complementary skills and experience to benefit its global client base.”
David Hudson, Group CEO, Suntera Global, said: “This is a major strategic move for us, reflecting our ambition to expand into a new, major market that offers significant growth potential. Socium’s innovative approach, deep and broad expertise and focus on delivering a bespoke technology-enabled client experience aligns well with our own core value of delivering sustainable, responsible growth.
“Servicing clients on both the east and west coasts, Socium will not only enhance our service offering and presence in the US itself but will also add considerably to our existing global capabilities in supporting alternative fund managers. I’m looking forward to welcoming our new colleagues to the team.”
Michael Von Bevern and Beth Mueller, joint Partners and Co-Founders of Socium, shared:
“We are incredibly proud of how Socium has grown over the six years since its inception to its standing today as a highly regarded fund administration business with the capability to provide sophisticated solutions to managers in a highly complex environment. Becoming part of the Suntera Global team will give us the opportunity to continue to enhance and broaden our client offering.
“Suntera Global’s culture of Empowering Responsible Ambition resonates with us as entrepreneurs and leaders committed to building an exceptional team to deliver superior service in our industry.  We are excited for the opportunity to expand and strengthen the offering we have built, with a globally recognised firm who shares our vision of excellence and accountability.”