Renatus Weekly M&A & Company Performance Newsletter 04/04/2021

Deal Details: Dublin-based ecommerce company eShopWorld (ESW) has sold the remaining 50% stake in the business to Asendia, a joint venture between La Poste group and Swiss Post.

The financial details have not been disclosed however industry sources estimate the transaction valued the company at about €1bn.

eShopWorld was founded in 2010 by Tommy Kelly. It’s one of the world’s leading global eCommerce platforms with 500 employees in Dublin, the US and Singapore.
​​​​​​It’s technology helps to handle a range of services for clients, from dealing with taxes and tariffs, to delivery, returns, fraud protection and data security.

ESW, while completely owned by Asendia, will remain a stand-alone entity, with the current management remaining.

Asendia, formed in 2012, covers all international mail solutions, including the dispatch and delivery of mail, catalogues, press and small goods.

Asendia previously increased its stake in ESW to 50% from 40% in 2017. At that point the company was valued at €300m.

Advisers: None Mentioned

Renatus Comment: As an E-commerce enabler, eShopWorld has been a real winner from the pandemic-fuelled shift to online purchasing. The company has been on a phenomenal growth trajectory the last couple of years with revenue growing from c. €211m in FY16 to c. €508m in FY19.

This transaction gives eShopWorld a reported valuation of over €1bn, making it part of an elite club of Irish-founded tech firms that have achieved unicorn status which include Intercom, Workhuman and Stripe.

Source: eShopWorld; Irish Times

Deal Details: CapVest has agreed to the sale of Eight Fifty Food Group, which owns Irish companies Carroll Cuisine and M&M Walshe, for an undisclosed sum to Sofina Foods Inc.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Eight Fifty is a supplier of both branded and own-label seafood and pork. The pork division is one of the largest processors and suppliers of products across Britain and Ireland.

The group employs about 8,300 people, across 23 manufacturing sites.

Sofina Foods is one of Canada’s largest food producers and has a 25-year history of acquisitions, growth and success.

Following the deal, the company will have over 13,000 employees globally and near $6bn in annual revenue.

Advisers: None Mentioned

Renatus Comment: This is a great case study of what a private equity partnership can bring to ambitious companies and management teams.

At the time of CapVest’s original investment in 2017, the company was a UK-only pork supplier generating less than £500m in sales. Through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth, today Eight Fifty Group is a European multi-protein speciality with over £2bn in sales.

During the four years, Eight Fifty made a number of acquisitions, including Young’s Seafood, M&M Walshe Holdings, Greenland Seafood and, most recently, acquired Carroll’s Cuisine which was backed by Carlyle Cardinal Ireland.

Source: Eight Fifty Food Group

Deal Details: Greencoat Renewables has acquired Glencarby Wind Farm from John Laing Group for an undisclosed sum.

The 35.6MW wind farm consisting of 12  Nordex turbines has been in operation since 2017.
This acquisition boosts Greencoat’s total capacity to 685.6MW.

It is reported that London-based Greencoat Capital is in the early stages of speaking to potential advisers as it weighs up it’s strategic options.

Advisers: None Mentioned

Renatus Comment: Greencoat continues to be one of the most frequent features in this newsletter, having just recently acquired Cordal wind farm in Kerry in February of this year. The Group has relied heavily on acquisitions as a way to grow its portfolio of renewable energy assets.

It has grown its capacity by 45% in two years to 557MW and increased its net cash generation by 87% to €66.4m in 2020.  Today, it holds 14% of the Irish renewables market.

Source: Irish Times

Deal Details: Irish marine developer Simply Blue Energy and Luxembourg-based subsea engineering company Subsea 7 have formed a joint venture to develop a floating wind farm off the coast of Scotland.

The 200MW Salamander wind farm concept is a pre-commercial project.

In January, Shell acquired a 51% stake in Simply Blue Energy’s joint venture, Kinsale.
The joint venture company develops the Emerald Project, a floating 300MW offshore wind farm in the Celtic Sea off the coast of Ireland.

Advisers: Feilim O’Caoimh, corporate partner and head of Fieldfisher’s renewable energy team in Dublin, led the team advising Simply Blue on the project, supported by corporate solicitor Jamie Woodcock.

Renatus Comment: This isn’t Simply Blue Energy’s first venture into floating wind farm development. Last year, Simply Blue Energy entered into a joint venture with Total New Energies to develop floating wind sites in the Welsh sea.

Offshore wind is becoming a more favoured form of renewable energy and is expected to produce between 7% and 11% of the EU’s electricity demand by 2030. Simply Blue Energy is positioning itself as a leader in this space.

Source: Power-technology.com ​​​​​​

Deal Details: In the Style, a UK-based online women’s fashion e-tailor, completed its initial public offering on March 15th. The business is led by CEO Adam Frisby.

Demand for the shares were significantly over subscribed. The IPO was expecting to raise gross proceeds of c. £56m, £9m of which would be used on a host of investments, including growing and developing its social media influencer network, entry into certain international markets, moving to larger warehouses, among other activities.

£47m of the proceeds were used to facilitate a partial realisation for the shareholders. Causeway Capital Partners invested in the business in 2018 and will retain a 14.5% stake post-IPO and the senior management will retain a 27.3% stake.

Advisers: Liberum Capital Limited were the Nominated Adviser, Broker and Bookrunner.

Renatus Comment: 2020 was a substantial growth year for the company, with revenue more than doubling during the period versus the prior year. The company generated c. £35m for the nine months ending December 2020, up £21m versus the same period for the prior year.

Source: In The Style press release

Deal Details: FRS Recruitment has acquired staffing start-up Get the Shifts for an undisclosed amount.

Tipperary-based FRS Recruitment is a nationwide co-operative recruitment agency founded in 1980 with 10 offices around the country.

Get the Shifts, based in Co Clare, hires temporary workers for hospitality businesses, shops and marketing organisations. The company can provide between one and 500 staff at a time with as little as three hours’ notice.

Under the deal’s terms Get the Shifts will become a division of FRS Recruitment.

Hannah Wrixon, the Clare company’s chief executive, will be the division’s general manager, while all Get the Shifts staff will move to FRS.

Prior to the transaction, Get the Shift was 100% owned by  Hannah Wrixon and  latest financials for the company show that it made a net profit of c. €40k in FY20.

Advisors: Ronan Murray, Deloitte’s Munster based Corporate Finance Partner & Kate Nicholas, Associate Director provided Transaction Services to FRS Recruitment.

George Kennedy’s team, led by Neil O’Gorman, of Holmes O’Malley Sexton acted for Hannah Wrixon in the sale of Get the Shifts.

Renatus Comment:  This acquisition looks like a natural fit for FRS as it already has a Temporary Workforce arm and has operations in the four areas that Get the Shift specialise in: Office, Marketing, Industrial and Hospitality.

Source: Irish Times