logo
print this page email this page bookmark this page

August 2010

Leen Valley Golf Centre Ltd - sale of their golf course at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire

We acted for Leen Valley Golf Centre Ltd in the sale of their golf course at Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. Our team was led by Simon Ingram and assisted by Jeremy Eden, Farrah Tejani and Matthew Robinson Smith.

Head Start Day Nursery Ltd - acquisition of Daventry Day Nursery Ltd

We acted for Head Start Day Nursery Ltd in their acquisition of Daventry Day Nursery Ltd.   Our team was led by Jeremy Eden and assisted by Andrew Winfield, Lucy Bradban and Moira Myers.

July 2010

Hotbed Group Limited - carried interest sale

We acted for Hotbed Group Limited on the re-organisation and disposal on its rights to share in future profits on existing investments.

ACS Systems UK Limited - acquisition of Bull Office Furniture Limited

We acted for ACS Systems UK Limited in their acquisition of Bull Office Furniture Limited. Our team was headed by Jeremy Eden and assisted by Nick Lloyd and Sylvja Matthews.

June 2010

Barwood - residential fund

We acted for Barwood on the set up of a fund of up to £15m to support residential development.

April 2010

Praesepe plc - reverse takeover of Beacon Bingo

We acted for Praesepe plc on the £45m reverse takeover of Beacon Bingo. The acquisitions involved the purchase of some 45 sites and 8 companies and re-banking Beacon's and Praesepe's existing facilities.

Hotbed Limited - No Saints

We acted for Hotbed on its 3.5m investment into No Saints, which runs restaurants and new-concept bars.

Seckloe 168 Limited - sale of shares

We acted for the shareholders of Seckloe 168 Limited on the sale of their shares to a wholly owned subsidiary of US based drill maker Great Plains Manufacturing, Incorporated. Seckloe 168 Limited is the holding company of Simba International Limited.

Simba International Limited manufacture and supply cultivation and seeding equipment.

This strategic purchase will now enable Kansas based Great Plains to increase its presence and expand its business across the European market. Similarly, for Simba the deal provides access to the North American market.

In 1992 we acted on the original buy-out of Simba International and in 2003 we were again instructed to act on the secondary buy-out of Simba International. 

March 2010

Hotbed Limited - Central London Property Fund

We acted for Hotbed on its £3m investment into a Guernsey listed vehicle set up to acquire and let out high end property in central London.

January 2010

Barwood - investment by Development Securities plc

We acted for Barwood on significant investments into various vehicles by Development Securities plc to support Barwood's strategic land businesses.

Hotbed Limited - investment into an acquisition vehicle

We acted for Hotbed Limited on the investment into an acquisition vehicle which in turn acquired a software development company.

December 2009

Parallel Limited - sale of the entire issued share capital

We acted for the owners of Parallel Limited in the sale of the company to US buyer, VT iDirect, Inc.  Parallel Limited is the developer of SatManage, an award-winning network management software suite for satellite and hybrid networks which provides users with a fully automated and integrated Network Operations Centre.   The team was lead by Paul Bevington and assisted by Jeremy Eden, Farrah Tejani and Antonio Fletcher.

November 2009

FirstCare Limited - merger with Active Health Partners Limited

We advised FirstCare on its merger with Active Health Partners Limited, both of whom are leaders in absence management services provided to businesses.

The Merger was structured as the acquisition by FirstCare of Active Health Partners and was undertaken on tight time scales by way of a recommended general offer by FirstCare to the shareholders of Active Health Partners.

Hotbed investment into a grounds rents portfolio

We acted for Hotbed on its £5.5m investment into a ground rents portfolio managed by Eyre & Johnson. The investment into a limited partnership was supported by a £7.5 m loan from RBS. The partnership expects to build its portfolio over the next 2-3 years.

October 2009

Abbey National plc - acquisition of Liquidity Limited

We acted for Abbey National plc in the acquisition of Liquidity Limited, a specialist factoring and invoice discounting provider. We worked together with Santander's in-house legal team on the acquisition and due diligence.

Autohaus Limited - sale of dealerships

We acted for Autohaus Limited (in Administration) in the sale of 3 Triumph motorcycle dealerships in Birmingham, Woburn and Wellingborough.

Keen & Toms Holdings Limited - reorganisation

We acted for the shareholders of the Keen & Toms Group which owns the Hypnos brand (a bed manufacturing business with the royal warrant). This involved the buying out of some of the shareholders whilst the remainder rolled their interests into shares of a new holding company.

Maxim Logistics Group Limited - acquisition

We acted for Maxim Logistics Group Limited in the acquisition of Maxim Logistics Investments and Logistics Investments Limited.  Maxim Logistics Group Limited is a Corby-based haulage, warehousing and freight business with a 50 vehicle fleet and over 100,000 sq ft of storage facilities.

August 2009

Bart Spices - management buy out

We acted for the management team of Bart Spices in an MBO conducted in August 2009. The MBO team was headed by CEO Matthew Shaw, who joined the company in 2003. The team was led by Paul Bevington, who worked closely with Oli Wright from Five Corporate Finance to successfully structure the deal. The Bart Spices MBO was recently voted 'Deal of the Year 2009' by Insider Dealmakers magazine.

July 2009

Acoustics Noise & Vibration Limited - acquisition

We acted for Acoustics Noise & Vibration Limited (trading as ANV Measurement Systems) in the acquisition of the business and assets of A V Calibration.

IQ Sys Limited - disposal

We acted for the QA-IQ Group on the disposal of one of its subsidiaries IQ Sys Limited.

IQ Sys is a distributor of infrastructure software to a nationwide IT reseller networks.

In June 2007 we acted for the shareholders of QA-IQ Group on private equity provider Englefield Capital’s growth capital investment.

June 2009

Drumond Park - management buy out from of Toy Brokers Limited and John Adams Trading Company Limited

We acted on the management buy out from Drumond Park of Toy Brokers Limited and John Adams Trading Company Limited.

A new holding company was set up to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of both entities. The buy-out was backed by a strong investor group.

Toy Brokers and John Adams are licensed suppliers of brands which include Tiny Tears, Girls World, Fuzzy Felt, Bema Sports swimming aids, Intex pools and inflatables, the Golden Coin Maker, Supergraphics and Hot Wires.

April 2009

Basekit -  investment into the business by Eden Ventures and NESTA

We acted for the Basekit founders on the investment into the business by Eden Ventures and NESTA.  Basekit provides a do it yourself website design package.

Hotbed £4m investment into a limited partnership vehicle

We acted for Hotbed on its £4m investment into a limited partnership vehicle to undertake 6 wind farm projects.

March 2009

Helena Leisure - acquisition of 28 nightclubs from 3D Entertainment Group

We acted for Helena Leisure on the acquisition of 28 nightclubs from 3D Entertainment Group.

Hotbed Limited - investment and acquisition of Sabel Cosmetics Limited

We acted for Hotbed on the £1.6m EIS qualifying investment in Sabel Cosmetics Holdings Limited and the related acquisition of Sabel Cosmetics Limited.  Sabel Cosmetics is a manufacturer of premium and mass market hair care products, a family business based in Halifax.  Hotbed backed Ian Shepherd, the incoming manager who has taken over full time management of the business.

Tim Lawrence, Investment Director at Hotbed commented: “Thanks go to the team who worked hard to pull together the various professionals involved in order to get to completion.  Sabel Cosmetics represents a great opportunity for the Hotbed investors and without any bank funding involved, is one of the first real acquisitions with Hotbed as the sole incoming investor.  The team went the extra mile, doing more than they were briefed to do, in order to make sure the deal happened within the desired timescales.” 

February 2009

Bluefish Office Products - purchase of Paragon Office Supplies

Bluefish Office Products, a Northampton based business, acquired Paragon Office Supplies on 27 February 2009.

Red Dot Square Holdings Limited - sale of share capital

We acted for Mark Edwards in the sale of Milton Keynes based company Red Dot Square Solutions to WPP, the world's second largest marketing services group. Red Dot Square produces virtual reality store simulations for shopper research.

Motivcom - acquisition

We acted for Motivcom in the acquisition of Motivation Travel Management in August 2007.   The acquisition continues the string of acquisitions which have been carried out by the AIM listed company in recent years and on which emw law has acted.  Motivation Travel Management provides incentive travel and conference facilities. 

 
© EMW Picton Howell LLP 2009