Quantuma closes eight transactions in the last fortnight
The corporate finance team of business advisory firm Quantuma has completed a record-breaking eight transactions in the last fortnight. Happening in quick succession, the majority of the deals took place in the South of England, namely London, Oxfordshire and Reading.
Quantuma comprises a 250-strong team, operating across 22 locations around the UK and in selected offshore centres in Cyprus, Mauritius, and the Cayman Islands. In August last year Quantuma merged with K3 Capital Group, further enhancing its corporate finance capability – something which has helped it’s corporate finance team complete a record-breaking eight transactions over just two weeks at the start of 2021, at a combined value of over £130 million.
Mark Lucas, Corporate Finance Lead across the K3 Group, commented, “Quantuma has gone from strength-to-strength in the last 12 months. These eight deals further underline that status for the Group in the first few months of 2021. Across the Group we are continuing to invest in our ability to support businesses across all regions and sectors through significant periods of change.”
Happening in quick succession, the majority of the deals took place in the South of England, namely London, Oxfordshire and Reading. Exits were a reoccurring theme throughout the transactions, with the latest deal announced including the acquisition of digital content platform and publisher Dezeen by Danish media company JP/Politiken Media Group.
The significant cross-border deal announced in early March saw the Quantuma team advise on the acquisition of Dezeen. The Danish media group is committed to social responsibility and believes that journalism is vital to democracy. A shared belief in these principles was a key reason for the deal. New owner JP/Politiken Media Group is a private trust that exists to "equip citizens with facts and knowledge that make them better able to take an active part in a democratic society". It is one of the biggest media groups in Denmark, owning several national newspapers and many other titles, but it allows each to follow its own independent path.
Elsewhere, Quantuma worked on the sale of Collaborative Project Management Services (CPMS) to French engineering group Egis, which saw YFM Equity Partners exit the business. CPMS was established in 2012 as a specialist project management business, quickly thereafter becoming a lead service provider in this field, while Egis is a €1.22 billion turnover construction engineering and mobility services group which operates worldwide and has a global workforce of 15,800 employees.
Quantuma also advised a partial shareholder exit of professional services provider of Microsoft identity and cyber security solutions ThirdSpace, which also included an investment from TiG, backed by BGF. TiG, one of the UK’s leading Cloud, Data Analytics and Managed Services providers to the financial services sector, acquired ThirdSpace, a UK-based provider of Microsoft Identity and Cyber Security solutions, in order to create a combined proposition which delivers a fully comprehensive suite of services based on Microsoft technology, for organisations that demand secure modern working and digital transformation.
At the same time, management buyouts (MBOs) backed by private equity also proved a popular exit strategy in recent weeks, with Quantuma advising on the disposal of facilities management business Pareto FM in an £18 million MBO supported by NVM Private Equity.The business has performed strongly during the Covid-19 pandemic, recently securing several high profile contract wins with global technology, media and software firms.
Meanwhile, Quantuma also advised on the MBO of data and network security specialist Phoenix Datacom, backed by private equity giant LDC. The partnership with LDC will support the existing management team – led by Managing Director, John Carson – to expand Phoenix Datacom’s suite of hardware and software products and related services to help its enterprise customers further enhance their cyber-security. LDC’s backing will also help the team to explore complementary acquisitions.
Led by managing director Ian Barton, the team also completed the disposal of compliance training consultancy Compliancy Services to an MBO backed by Ethos Partners. Ethos Partners is a private investment office set up by private equity professionals to invest their own capital alongside sophisticated, high net worth investors into quality, smaller private equity transactions.
Ian Barton, Managing Director at Quantuma and the lead advisor for most of the deals, said, “This has been the busiest period that Quantuma has ever had for completing corporate finance transactions… After an inevitable pause in transactions in the first few months of the pandemic, we have seen accelerating activity since last autumn and the deals market has bounced back stronger than ever, with new types of transactions coming to the fore. Deals are happening at pace and our pipeline is strong, so we expect continued deal activity for the next few months ahead.”
Quantuma’s Transaction Services team, led by Jonathan Thornton, has also completed a number of deals in this period. These including the team’s first vendor due diligence with data centre owner and operator Amito’s £38 million transaction with investment from Harwood Private Equity.
Additionally, the Transaction Services team advised Herida Healthcare on its acquisition of healthcare manufacturer Select Medical. Sean Spencer, Managing Director of Herida Healthcare, said the acquisition will bolster the service and repair requirements for Herida’s rapidly growing business, adding, “Select has been a target of Herida for some time due to its well-respected product offering, service capabilities and respected brands.
