Tax Computer Systems
Eco City Vehicles PLC (AIM: ECV) is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire Tax Computer Systems Limited ("TCS"), a leading supplier of corporation tax software to the large corporate sector and the accounting profession in the UK and Ireland, for an enterprise value of £73 million. The Company has also conditionally raised £45 million by way of an oversubscribed placing of New Ordinary Shares.
Capscan
Identity checking software business GB Group has made its third acquisition in under four months with an £11.2m swoop for a London-based rival, and says it is eyeing further takeovers.
GB Group has agreed to acquire Capscan Parent, a supplier of customer registration and address management software. Chester-based GB Group also announced a placing of 20m new shares with new institutional investors, raising about £8m to help fund the acquisition.
GB Group, led by chief executive Richard Law, said Capscan is a leading supplier in a sector worth an estimated £75m a year in the UK, and has a growing international presence.
Its products and services are used in markets such as financial services, retail and leisure to help organisations verify customer address details.
Capscan has 54 staff and about 1,800 customers. It posted revenues of £6.8m in the year to March and adjusted underlying pre-tax profits of £1.2m.
GB Group said the acquisition would create cross-selling opportunities in the UK and abroad, and would significantly enhance its strategy of becoming a leader in the identity management arena.
Mr Law said: “Capscan is an excellent business and this acquisition brings together the number two and number three operators in this important and growing market of customer registration. The combination of GB Group and Capscan consolidates an already strong presence in the UK market and enhances our ability to provide international services, which we see as a key growth area. We expect the acquisition to enable GB Group to make further progress towards higher operating margins over the medium term as a result of increased scale, efficient operation and competitive differentiation."
“Strong cash flows should continue to enable us both to reward shareholders and invest in further value-creating acquisitions.”
GB Group, which bought two smaller UK businesses in July, supplies technology which enables customers to verify callers' identities through a series of checks.
We were exclusive financial advisers to Capscan and a team at the Manchester office of law firm Squire Sanders Hammonds advised GB Group on the acquisition.
PSCAL
The UK subsidiary of Civica, which provides IT systems and business process services primarily for the public sector, has acquired PSCAL for an undisclosed amount. Gloucestershire-headquartered PSCAL supplies financial management software and related services for the National Health Service (NHS). It currently supplies 200 primary and secondary health care organisations.
The acquisition has been made to extend Civica’s presence in the market.
A Civica statement says, "Financial management is increasingly critical for health care providers who face rising demand for services set against increased spending constraints."
Simon Downing, chief executive of Civica, comments, "PSCAL’s customer base, product set and specialist insight extend our capabilities at a time of significant structural, demographic and financial change in the health sector."
Civica was initially set up through a management buy-out from the Sanderson Group in 1999, in a deal that was backed by venture capitalist group Alchemy Partners. After being listed on AIM between 2004 and 2008 it was then delisted as part of a £190 million acquisition by private equity firm 3i.
Lizo Ngqobongwana, director at PSCAL, says that the deal is an ‘exciting step’ for its customers employers and partners. He adds, "From GP commissioning and payment-by-results to patient level costing and service line reporting, timely and accurate financial management has never been more important in the NHS."
Web TV Enterprise Ltd
Collective, a full service provider of media and technology solutions for display and video advertising, announced today that it has acquired premium online video advertising network, Web TV Enterprise. The deal, which follows only six months after the Company’s expansion into the UK and just weeks after acquiring video advertising platform OggiFinogi, furthers Collective’s position as a leader in delivering audiences to brand advertisers utilizing unified in-banner and in-stream video ad formats. Web TV Enterprise is the UK's largest premium online video ad network, representing many of the UK's leading web publishers and content owners. A pioneer of the VOD (video on-demand) advertising space since 2006, Web TV presents advertisers with the widest range of premium video channels on the web, reaching more than 25 million UK viewers a month.
“Slow adoption of online video advertising has resulted in the format’s potential being left largely untapped with video companies remaining a small subset of overall television advertising spend,” said Joe Apprendi, CEO, Collective.
“Unlike most video networks, Web TV’s revenues come largely from broadcast media budgets versus smaller digital plans. This is a trend that we see accelerating in the UK, US and globally.”
Access UK Ltd
Lyceum Capital has backed a £50m management buyout of software company Access UK, which has a base in Sheffield. The deal involves Lyceum investing alongside Access’ existing management led by CEO Chris Bayne. The investment is intended to fund an expansion strategy focused on rapid organic growth and the acquisition of complementary businesses.
Bayne has been responsible for driving a 15 per cent growth in sales over the last 12 months and Access said it hoped the private equity firm's investment would help it execute ambitious growth plans.
Joining Bayne in the management team will be new chairman Gareth Denley, who has held senior executive positions at IBM UK, Spring Group and Rebus HR, and non-executive director David England who was formally chief operating officer at Computer Software Group.
The deal involves the acquisition of the stakes previously held by founder Alistair O’Reilly and a number of other shareholders. Lyceum Capital’s Jeremy Hand and Phillip Buscombe have joined the board of Access.
Bayne said: “It’s fitting that on the 20th anniversary of Access’ incorporation we’ve agreed a deal which marks a significant step change in the speed and scale of the business’ expansion and secured the backing of an investment partner with an outstanding track record of generating sustainable growth.
“We’ll be focused on the continued development of our market-leading product and service portfolio through a combination of in-house development and the targeted acquisition of complementary solutions and will be looking to further develop our offering across the mid-market space.
“Our thanks go to exiting group managing director Alistair O’Reilly and non-executive chairman Paul Druckman, who have played a key role in helping the business get to where we are today.”
Established in 1991, Access is now a £28m-turnover business with an EBITDA of £5.5m.
The business has nine offices across the UK and Ireland and employs over 300 people, with 33 based in the Sheffield office.
It provides a full range of enterprise resource planning software and services, with a particular focus on financial management systems and human capital management.
It serves a 5,000-strong client base, which includes Spice Group, Yorkshire Coast Homes, Kirklees College and Bradford College.
Jeremy Hand, who led the deal for Lyceum Capital, said: “Access is a highly attractive company with a successful operating model, proven management team and a strong position in the rapidly growing business segment of the software market.
“This deal will give the business the funding and additional insight and expertise to broaden its services and penetrate further into key vertical industries.”
Funders and advisors on the deal included debt funding provided by Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Acquisition Finance and HSBC.
The buyers were advised by Wragge & Co, KPMG, Highwire, Intuitus, Aon, PwC, Investec and Oakley Capital. The exiting shareholders were advised by Regent, Maxwell Winward and Ensors.
Tuscany Networks
Buy and build vehicle Accumuli has bid £4m for AIM listed Tuscany Networks in a reverse takeover and plans to raise cash through a share placement to fund two further acquisitions early next year.
The deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, represents the first step in Accumuli's strategy to forge a managed security services specialist.
Management at Accumuli have appointed broker Zeus Capital to raise approximately £5m gross by issuing shares on the market at 6.5 pence each.
Basingstoke-based Tuscany Networks designs, installs and manages core networks and provides IP address solutions for around 200 large organisations.
"The acquisition of Tuscany, if approved, marks the first step in our plan to create an enlarged group with a range of services and product offerings in the managed IT security services sector," said Accumuli chairman Graham Norfolk.
In abbreviated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2009, Tuscany had net assets of £480,000.
Accumuli was born out of Manchester-based Netservices, which following investment from serial entrepreneur Ian Smith, sold the trading business, assets and subsidiary WAN Services to GCI Telecom for £3.4m in 2009.
The buy and build strategy is taking shape and Norfolk confirmed Accumuli had pinpointed several others targets it hoped to close early next year.
"We have identified several other potential acquisition targets and expect to complete two further acquisitions before the end of Q1 2011," he said.
Smith, now an executive director at Accumuli, and chairman at Redstone - which itself acquired Fujin Systems this week - plans to raise his stake in the business by buying additional shares at the rights issue, the company said.
Codework
Codework Limited has been acquired by Altimate Group for an undisclosed sum adding the Manchester-based outfit into a family of European distributors.
Altimate operates in six countries already, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg, and with the Codework purchase now has a foothold in the UK and Ireland. Established in 1997 Codework has a profound expertise in advanced computer technologies which covers infrastructure management, security, internet restriction and reporting, encryption and data loss prevention. Codework had a turnover of £14m last year.
Patrice Arzillier, CEO of Altimate, said “I am proud to announce that ALTIMATE Group is continuing its drive for development through external growth and has acquired the English company Codework, a value added distributor in IT Infrastructure Management and IT Security. This acquisition is reinforcing our strategic and European partnership with Symantec and provides a new development platform on the very leading markets of United Kingdom and Ireland. This expansion of our activities in the UK and Ireland is signalling not only an important step for our place as European actor, but also strengthening our partnership in a significant way with Symantec, especially for Altiris and Security platforms.”
Divyesh Lakhani, managing director and founder of Codework, said that being part of a larger organisation would provide it with the muscle it needs for expansion.
”This will provide us with a supportive infrastructure and the resources to allow us to focus on using our capabilities to continue the next phase of growth in the UK and Ireland,” he said. Altimate, owned by DCC plc an Irish company listed on both the Irish and London stock exchanges, has been around since 1994 and might be known by some under its old branding of Distrilogie. It has built up a network of 2,500 resellers across Europe and already has an existing relationship with Symantec."
Client feedback:
“Regent Assay's detailed knowledge of our market sector ensured that we focused on a highly select group of credible acquirers. Their understanding of the strategies and market approach of likely buyers meant that we were able to effectively respond to all of the key issues that arose during the various meetings and negotiations. The Regent team, led by Pradip Somaia, provided comprehensive support throughout the transaction and guided Codework expertly through all the technicalities which arose during the days prior to completion. The whole process was conducted with energy and integrity and we would not hesitate to recommend their services to others."
SiRViS IT Holdings
Esteem Systems, one of the UK’s leading IT services providers, has today announced it has acquired SiRViS IT Holdings Ltd, which provides IT services and support throughout the UK and Europe. Backed by Primary Capital and Lloyds TSB, the acquisition is Esteem’s second deal of the year following the purchase of Oracle services provider, MIDAS IT Solutions in May 2010.
“Our aim this year is to grow Esteem to a thriving £60m business both organically and through acquisition, despite difficult market conditions, so the acquisition of SiRViS is an important part of this strategy. SiRViS will complement our specialised managed services portfolio with its reputable outsourced customer and IT service capabilities and doubles the size of our business to 230 employees. We look forward to welcoming the SiRViS team to the Esteem group,” says Joe Connolly, CEO, Esteem Systems.
Woking-based SiRViS, which trades as Linetex and ATM, employs 130 people and provides both on-site and remote, IT services and support. Linetex and ATM will continue to be managed as a separate division by its current management team.
“Today’s climate is forcing many businesses to renew their focus on IT costs and operations. By combining our remote customer services, IT support and managed services, Esteem and SiRViS can offer customers the ‘total package’ for IT infrastructure and support”, says Mark Lewis, managing director of Linetex and ATM.
We were the exclusive financial advisors to SiRViS IT Holdings on this transaction.
Unanimis Consulting
The Orange France Telecom Group has acquired 100% of Unanimis, the UK’s largest exclusive digital advertising network. Through the combination of Unanimis’s premium advertising network and Orange’s mobile and web assets, advertisers, buyers and media agencies will be able to reach over 71.5% of the UK’s online population and over 66% of the online population across UK, France, Spain and Poland.
Unanimis has exclusive online advertising relationships with key website brands such as the AA, Ticketmaster, ASOS, Gumtree and Shopping.com giving it the most extensive, exclusive-access, digital advertising portfolio in the UK. The acquisition will put Orange and Unanimis at the forefront of digital and mobile advertising in the UK with unparalleled scale and reach across web, mobile and interactive media.
Together, Orange and Unanimis will have particular strength in the area of online advertising, which is the fastest growing advertising segment in UK and is expected to account for 27% of total advertising spend in the UK in 2011, up from 19% in 2007. The Western European online advertising market was worth an estimated 12 billion euros in 2008 and the UK represented Europe’s largest market (31%). Orange and Unanimis will also have strong positions in new growth areas such as mobile advertising.
“With the acquisition of Unanimis, Orange now has strong footholds in two of Europe’s three main digital advertising markets – France and the UK – which provide outstanding opportunities to pan-European advertisers and agencies while enabling us to accelerate our plans for growth from the mobile and online environment,” said Paul Francois Fournier, Executive Vice President, Orange Advertising. “Our combined strengths will help us to achieve the Group’s overall ambition to drive revenues from 9% to 20% in new growth areas, of which advertising is a key strand.”
“Unanimis brings with it knowledge and expertise in performance-related advertising, one of the fastest growing segments of the market. Through their established network, we will also be able to maximise our own assets and, importantly, offer advertisers new ways to reach audiences through our web and mobile portals. Unanimis are a talented group which we are delighted to welcome to the Orange France Telecom family,” added Paul Francois Fournier.
Damon Reeve, CEO and co-founder of Unanimis, said, “The combination of Orange’s assets with our renowned digital advertising expertise will appeal to a broad spectrum of advertisers, marketers and publishers. Technologically and culturally, we share much in common and we are very excited by the prospects we see ahead, not only for the web advertising opportunities but also for the, thus untapped, mobile proposition.”
Apak Group
The acquisition is expected to bring a new dimension to APAK who will benefit greatly from Sword Group's international presence and proven experience of providing high added value technology solutions to a world-wide customer base. The move also marks a culmination of APAK's remarkable achievements which have seen the company grow into a market leading systems provider for the asset-based finance and retail banking industries.
Commenting on the acquisition, APAK's CEO Tony Bracey noted: "We are delighted to be joining the Sword Group who will help us to grow and build upon our success in the UK which was started by APAK's founder Tony Papadopoullos in 1979. Aligning ourselves with Sword will give us that opportunity by allowing APAK to enter new geographical markets and support our clients' multi-national interests".
Sword Group's Operational Director, Tony Holland, echoed Bracey's sentiments by adding: "This is an excellent move for Sword and for APAK. The APAK acquisition is a significant addition to the Group's company portfolio that will enhance our range of offerings to the financial services industry. For APAK, Sword will bring its vast international experience and unsurpassed track record of technical expertise in 'best of breed' IT solutions. Sword has demonstrated consistent stability for continued growth through well-proven financial governance, whilst pursuing an ambitious acquisitions programme to augment existing market sectors."