Dear Reader,
You are receiving this mail every week as we see you as a key partner and we look forward to continuing to enjoy our journey with you over the decades ahead.
Please find below this week’s newsletter covering the latest M&A, company performance, fundraisings and executive moves.
With just four days to go, we are delighted to announce that The Real Deal 2019 taking place in Goffs this Thursday is now sold out.
For those who wish to attend, but haven’t secured a ticket, please email info@therealdeal2019.ie to be placed on the waiting list. For anybody registered but not going please let us know so your space can be freed up for someone else.
Over the past few weeks, we have announced the speakers that will join The Real Deal panel discussions. The lineup is now fully announced and we have a great panel of speakers eager to share their unique insights and remarkable stories.
The full lineup is as follows:
Each of these discussions will be moderated by Matt Cooper.
We would like to make note that some attendees have found their etickets in the spam/junk folders of their inboxes. If you are having any issues with your purchase please email info@therealdeal2019.ie.
If you have already received your eticket, we look forward to seeing you there. Our stand is immediately on the left when you walk in, please come and say hello.
For more information, please visit the website here and the 2018 highlights video can be viewed here.
Thank you for your support and we hope to see you on the day!
Deal Details: Packaging company Zeus has acquired two UK peers – Smith Bateson and Van Der Windt for an outlay of €12m.
Liverpool headquartered Smith Bateson, founded in 1801 is one of the UK’s leading paper and polythene distributors, which has reach into the retail market across the north-west of the UK.
Van Der Windt, based in Lincolnshire is a food services packaging business, which offers a wide range of and sustainable packaging solutions.
The combined turnover of the two companies is c.€40m.
Over the past year, Zeus has also acquired UK-based VaioPak Group, Essential Supplies in Naas and Dublin company Aldar Tissues.
Zeus now employs 185 people in Ireland, and 400 in total across 12 countries worldwide.
The company forecasts turnover in 2019 to reach €180m, with a target of €225m in 2020. In 2018, Zeus announced a €27m investment in new premises in Dublin and the UK.
Advisers: Ronan Murray, Munster based Deloitte Financial Advisory Partner provided transaction services to Zeus on their acquisition of the UK company Smith Bateson
Renatus Comment:
Every Irish PLC corporate success story with exception of Ryanair has been ambitious capable Irish companies acquiring internationally. Great to see Zeus and Brian O’Sullivan leading the charge for SME Ireland with this and previous bolt-ons. We are looking at a number of acquisitions in the UK in partnership with market leading Irish companies.
Source: Biz Plus
Deal Details: Paddy Power and Betfair owner Flutter Entertainment is to acquire Toronto-based gaming firm The Stars Group.
The deal has been done through an all-share combination to be implemented through an acquisition of TSG by Flutter, with Flutter shareholders owning 54.64pc of the group.
Regulatory clearance is expected next year.
Combined annual revenue at the two companies would have been £3.8bn (€4.3bn) last year, making it the largest gaming operator globally.
Following the transaction, Flutter says it will have customers in more than 100 international markets.
Under the terms of the deal, TSG shareholders will be entitled to receive 0.2253 new Flutter shares in exchange for each TSG Share.
The combined group will be incorporated, headquartered and domiciled in Dublin.
Advisers: Flutter was advised by Goldman Sachs International, PJT Partners, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Arthur Cox, Blank Rome LLP, Stikeman Elliot LLP and Clayton Utz.
TSG was advised by Barclays, Moelis & Company LLC, BMO Capital Markets, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Jones Day, Slaughter and May, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, A&L Goodbody and Gilbert + Tobin.
Renatus Comment:
This gives significant scale to the original “Paddy Power” as we all know it. The pace of real deregulation in the US will determine the gradient on the graph of its share price over the coming years.
We are privileged to enjoy seeing the growth of so many effective first generation Irish plcs from CRH, Kerry, Glanbia, Kingspan, Smurfit and Ryanair.
Source:Stars Group Press Release
Deal Details: Fanning and Kelly, Solicitors have merged with Flynn O’Driscoll, Business Lawyers.
The combined firm will operate from the Flynn O’Driscoll offices at No. 1 Grants Row, Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2.
Established in July 2000 Fanning and Kelly, Solicitors advises clients in the areas of litigation, corporate and property law with Kieran Kelly being renowned for his expertise and extensive practice in media and defamation law.
Flynn O’Driscoll is a full service business law firm with a domestic and international client base comprising multinational companies, owner-managed businesses, public bodies, as well as private clients.
Advisers: None mentioned
Renatus Comment:
If there was an SME law firm of the year award Flynn O’Driscoll would have a good few gongs on its mantle piece. They have really farmed this market space over recent years.
Source:Flynn O’Driscoll
Deal Details: Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff has been saved from closure after being bought by UK-based energy company InfraStrata for £6m (€6.72m).
Titanic builder Harland and Wolff entered administration in August under business advisers BDO, following the collapse of its Norwegian parent company.
The business had diversified away from shipbuilding in the last two decades, shifting to work on wind energy and marine engineering projects.
Advisers: None mentioned
Renatus Comment:
It would have been very sad to see such an institution die. Let’s hope Wright Bus can continue post-administration also.
Source:Belfast Telegraph
Deal Details: Woodie’s owner Grafton Group has sold its specialist UK plumbing and heating business, Plumbase to Plumbing and Heating Investments Limited for £66.75m (€74.9m).
Taking into account adjustments, Grafton received net cash proceeds of £60.7m (€68m).
Plumbase generated sales of £257.8m (€289m) and operating profit of £6m (€6.7m) for the year ended 31 December 2018.
Last year Grafton reported revenue of £2.95bn (€3.3bn) and adjusted operating profit of £194.5m (€218m).
Plumbing and Heating Investments (PHIL) already owns GB Willbond, HPS and Plumbcity.
Advisers: None mentioned
Renatus Comment:
According to the Press Release “the disposal of Plumbase is in line with the Group’s strategy of orientating towards higher returning businesses with good long-term growth prospects.”
Source:Irish Independent
Deal Details: Private equity firm Foresight Group has acquired two wind farms in West Yorkshire and Northern Ireland.
The assets have been acquired by funds managed by Foresight for an undisclosed amount from Glennmont Partners I UK.
The wind farms, Gruig and Todmorden have been operating since 2009 and 2014, respectively, and have an aggregate generating capacity of 37.5MW.
This acquisition expands Foresight’s total wind assets under management by 11 per cent to 372.5MW.
Advisers: Foresight was advised by Pinsent Masons (legal adviser), Wood Group (technical adviser) and Deloitte (tax and financial adviser). The vendors were advised by KPMG (financial adviser), Everoze (technical adviser) and Norton Rose Fulbright / A&L Goodbody (legal advisers).
Source:Insider Media
Deal Details: Swiss-Irish baker Aryzta has received a binding offer of €156 million for the majority of its stake in French frozen foods company Picard from Invest Group Zouari.
Aryzta, which is the maker of Cuisine de France, acquired the interest in early 2015 for €447 million.
The deal involves a consideration of €156 million for 43% of the stake, when combined with prior Picard dividend income of €91 million, the deal represents a total value of €247 million. Aryzta said it will retain a 4.5% in Picard, to be monetised at a later stage.
The company’s share price has lost over 90% of its value in the last five years against the backdrop of profit warnings and poor results.
Zouari Group is a prodigious investor in the Tunisian economic fabric, which has been essentially deployed in trade and industry.
Advisers: None mentioned
Renatus Comment:
This acquisition was inherited by the current Chairman/CEO and they will be glad to have it cleaned up and move on.
Source:Irish Times
Details: Revenue has succeeded in its High Court application to have a provisional liquidator appointed to a Co Meath-based bus company.
At the High Court, Arthur Cunningham Bl for the Collector General of the Revenue Commissioners said his client is owed €39,000 as unpaid PAYE, PRSI and interest.
Counsel said that the collector general was seeking the appointment due to concerns over the transfer of assets, namely three buses, from the company to what it believes is a related company called M4 Direct Travel Ltd.
It is said the company had preferential debts of €133,000 and unsecured debts of €815,000. The companies net assets, namely 19 buses were valued at €5,000.
In all the circumstances counsel said that Enfield Coaches is unable to pay its debts and this was an appropriate case where a provisional liquidator should be appointed by the court.
The matter will return before the court later this month.
Source: Irish Examiner
Details: The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission cleared the
proposed transaction, whereby EP UK Investments Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) would acquire sole control of Tynagh Energy Limited.
EP UK Investments Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EPH, a Czechia based energy group active in the energy sector.
Tynagh Energy Limited is an Irish-incorporated company which operates a 400-megawatt Combined Cycle Gas Turbine electricity power plant at Derryfench, Tynagh, Co. Galway
Source: CCPC
Deal details: Its reported that receiver Deloitte has brought a 25% stake in the Galway arm of the Blackrock Clinic hospital group to market. This follows a legal dispute between Larry Goodman and founding brothers Jimmy and Joseph Sheehan where Goodman and Jimmy Sheehan are reported to be on one side and Joseph Sheehan and his family are reported to be on the other. The 25% stake is said to be held by Blackrock Medical Partners, an entity linked to Joseph Sheehan, and Goodman has been cited as being the likely acquirer of the stake.
Galway clinic is a 146-bed private hospital with 140 physicians and surgeons that generated €5.15m of pre-tax profit and revenue of €90.65m in its most recent financial period.
Source: Sunday Business Post
We in Renatus believe that more important than the deals are the people and we have teamed up with leaders in this field Korn Ferry to provide you details of key recent executive and board level appointments
Unilever appoints new VP and General Manager for Ireland
Unilever has appointed Emily Pittman as its Vice President & General Manager for Ireland. She will lead the Irish sales and marketing team and report to Sebastian Munden, Unilever’s EVP and General Manager for the UK and Ireland. Ms Pittman joined Unilever in 2017 as part of the UK and Ireland executive leadership team. Prior to joining Unilever, she held senior strategy and revenue growth roles at Coca-Cola UK and Ireland and has several years’ experience working for FMCG consultancies. Ms Pittman is originally from New Zealand and is moving to Dublin with her family. She succeeds Nick Johnson, who spent five years in the role and is moving to a global position within the company.
BP names Irishman Bernard Looney as new CEO
Oil giant BP has named Bernard Looney as chief executive to succeed Bob Dudley when he retires next year. Mr Looney will be the 16th head of the oil company in its 110 year history. Bernard Looney (49) grew up on a small farm in Ashgrove, near Kenmare in Co Kerry. The UCD engineering graduate has worked for BP since 1991. He took charge of BP’s oil and gas production in 2016 and has led the company through one of its periods of fastest growth in oil and gas production
Datalex names Sean Corkery as new CEO
Airline e-commerce company Datalex has named Sean Corkery as its new chief executive. Mr Corkery has been the company’s interim CEO and chairman since Aidan Brogan resigned from the company in May. Datalex has also appointed Christine Ourmières-Widener to its board as an independent non-executive director. Ms Ourmières-Widener was a former CEO at two airlines – Flybe until July 2019 and CityJet for five years.
Irishman to become Tesco’s new CEO
Tesco CEO Dave Lewis is stepping down next summer and will be succeeded by Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Ken Murphy. Mr Murphy graduated from UCC and trained as an accountant before moving to the UK. Mr Murphy worked at Boots UK and Ireland, before rising to chief commercial officer and president of global brands at Walgreens Boots, the transatlantic drug store operator formed through a merger.
DLA Piper appoints four new partners in Dublin
DLA Piper announced the appointment of four new partners to its new Dublin office across Finance and Projects, Intellectual Property and Technology, Tax and Real Estate. Kate Curneen will join DLA Piper’s F&P practice from Dillon Eustace, where she has been a partner since 2016. John Magee joins the IPT practice from William Fry, where he has been a partner since 2016, specialising in technology, data privacy, data breach and cybersecurity. Sean Murray specialises in tax and also joins the firm from Dillon Eustace, where he has been a partner since 2008. Graham Quinn joins to establish its Real Estate practice in Ireland from William Fry, where he has been a partner since 2016.
Magnet CEO joins Obelisk board
Former Digicel and Vodafone Ireland chief executive Stephen Brewer has joined the board of Obelisk International, a telecoms infrastructure group that employs about 300 staff in Ireland and abroad. The veteran telco executive, who is now the managing director of Magnet Networks, was brought on to the board to help guide Obelisk as it ties down new contracts in the telecoms space. The company was founded in Cavan in 1996 by local businessmen Colm Murphy and Padraig Brady. Its management team had also been strengthened with the appointment in recent months of Jarlath Finnegan as chief executive and Ronnie Delaney as chief financial officer.
Gowan Group acquires Opel Ireland and installs new MD
Gowan Group has completed the acquisition of Opel Ireland and has announced the appointment of James Brooks as managing director of Opel operations locally. Mr Brooks joins Opel from Kia Motors Ireland where he was managing director. He takes over from Gillian Whittall, who is leaving Opel following the successful completion of the acquisition.
Pat McCann appointed Ibec President
Pat McCann, CEO of Dalata Hotel Group plc, has taken up his role as president of business lobby group Ibec for 2019/2020. Mr McCann is founder and CEO of Dalata Hotel Group, which floated on the Irish and London Stock Exchanges in 2014. Prior to that he was CEO of Jurys Doyle Hotel Group plc.
EBITDA is an accounting term and is often the best indicator of profitability in non-capital-intensive businesses before financing and tax are considered. In capital-intensive businesses EBIT or EBITDA less average Capital Expenditure are often better measures. YoY is an acronym for the year-on-year movement in turnover, EBITDA, etc.
Based in Westmeath, Shay Murtagh (Pre-Cast) Limited is a family-owned company, which over the past four decades, has grown to become one of the leading manufacturers of precast concrete products in Ireland and the UK. The company specialises in pre-stressed and precast concrete products including: Bespoke products; Bridge Beams; concrete storage tanks; culverts and tunnel segments among others. During FY19, revenue grew by 1.8% to c. €53.6m while EBITDA increased by 20.7% to c. €5.3m due to a significant decrease in admin expenses. There was a c. €39k increase in cash for the period after the purchase of €1m worth of tangible assets, c. €930k of finance repayments and a c. €2.6m cash increase in working capital. The closing cash balance at the period end was c. €2.4m. The company employed on average 395 staff in FY19 at a cost of c. €15.6m. Net assets stood at c. €27.3m, up from c. €24.5m the previous year. The company is owned by Ciaran (70%) and Gillian Murtagh (30%).
Based in Tyrone, McMullan & O’Donnell Limited trades as McMullanODonnell and offer a range of domestic windows and doors in PVC while also specialising in the design, manufacture and installation of high performance architectural aluminium systems. In FY18, the company saw revenue increase by 12.3% to c. £14.7m with 70.7% coming from sales in the UK while the remaining 29.3% coming from sales to Ireland and the rest of Europe. EBITDA also increased in the year by 19.4% up to c. £2.5m. The company employed on average 148 staff at a cost of c. £3.5m in FY18. There was a net cash increase of c. £1.5m during the year which was largely attributable to strong operating profit. The company invested c. £335k on the purchase of fixed assets and paid out a dividend of c. £330k. At the end of the period there was c. £3.2m of cash on the balance sheet and no debt. The company is owned equally by Peter McMullan and Francis O’Donnell.
John Fletcher Limited, which trades as Fletchers Hardware, is a hardware store based in Portarlington, Co. Laois. The company was founded in 1968 by John Edward Fletcher and has since been successfully serving the midlands for all its hardware and DIY needs. The company’s most recent financial year saw revenue slip 23.8% to c. €9.0m although EBITDA had a year-on-year increase of 7.6% to c. €2.0m as gross margins increased from 24.2% to 34.3%. Cash increased by c. €1.4m during the year bringing the total cash balance up to c. €10.6m at year end with most of the growth attributable to a strong operating profit. The company also spent c. €330k on fixed assets with the purchase of both land and buildings (c. €136k) as well as motor vehicles (c. €194k). Net assets for the year were up c. €1.6m to c. €14.5m. The company remains with the Fletcher family with Elizabeth Fletcher owning 69.99% while founder John Edward Fletcher owns the remaining 30.01%.
Who: Galway based Vivasure Medical has agreed a financing deal.
What: €10m has been backed by the European Investment Bank.
Why: New financing will be used by Vivasure to expand research and development of medical devices to provide non-invasive cardiology treatment.
Source: RTE
Who: Petrel Resources, the exploration firm led by David Horgan has secured investment.
What: New investors have purchased a 30% stake for €560,000.
Why: The fund will be used to develop prospects in Iraq and North Africa.
Source: Irish Independent
Who: The Henderson Group, who are the owners of the Spar, Eurospar, Vivo and Vivoxtra convenience brands in Northern Irleand.
What: The group will invest more than £2.4m in a forecourt development on Newry road, Banbridge.
Why: The funds will be used to develop a forecourt on Newry road in Banbridge, as part of the group’s £26m investment into new stores, extensions and refurbishments in the next 12 months.
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Who: Artificial Intelligence innovation hub CeADAR secures funding.
What: €12m has been backed by Enterprise Ireland and additional €16m from industry and competitive sources.
Why: The funding will enable CeADAR to expand its operations to meet the growing demand from Irish industry and SMEs to implement AI technologies into their businesses to gain competitive advantage.
Source: Enterprise Ireland
Who: UK-listed Primary Health Properties has raised additional equity.
What: £100m (€113m) was raised after initial plans to raise £75m (€84.36m).
Why: The funds will be used to bankroll the development of new health centres, including four properties in Ireland that will require a capital commitment of €55m and to fund the development of four sites in the UK.
Source: Irish Independent
Who: Neuromod Devices, a company that focuses on non-invasive nerve technology, has closed a capital raise.
What: €8m funding round was led by existing investors Fountain Healthcare Partners and Moffett Investment Holdings, with venture-debt provided by new investors Kreos Capital and Silicon Valley Bank.
Why: The funds will be used to accelerate the commercialisation in Europe of its Lenire tinnitus (the perception of noise or ringing in the ears) treatment device, to scale up manufacturing, and to progress its regulatory strategy in the United States.
Source: Irish Independent
Who: HSBC has announced lending fund in Northern Ireland.
What: £150m (€168.62m) is part of a wider £14b (€15.74b) fund for firms around the UK which has ring-fenced cash for international businesses and the agriculture sector.
Why: The aim of the fund is to help small and medium-sized local firms cope with Brexit.
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Who: Dublin-based start-up Modulz, founded by Colm Tuite, has completed new funding round.
What: €4.2m has been backed by Irish venture capital firm Frontline Ventures and Intercom co-founder Des Traynor, also London venture capital firm LocalGlobe, Product Hunt co-founder Ryan Hoover and Vedkia Jain of Weekend Fund
Why: The funds will be used for development of the digital products that does not require the users to write code.
Source: Irish Times
Who: Dublin-based pharma company Amryt has raised funding. Amryt is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering innovative new treatments to help improve the lives of patients with rare and orphan diseases.
What: The business confirmed last week that it has raised $60m from investors to fund the takeover of Aegerion.
Why: The funds will be used to fund the takeover of Aegerion, a move that will see the creation of one of the largest orphan and rare disease drug companies.
Source: The Sunday Business Post
Who: Irish software company iQuate has raised funding. iQuate is a software group that specialises in identifying the range of often complex software licences and other IT services that companies use across their technology infrastructure, allowing them to better streamline their approach.
What: The business raised $10m (€9.14m) to drive further expansion, backed by Dublin and Silicon Valley based Atlantic Bridge Venture Partners and private investors.
Why: The funds will be used to help refocus its strategy and take advantage of the opportunities it saw from the move away from software to cloud solutions for its IT needs.
Source: The Sunday Independent
Who: Belfast-based Neurovalens has raised funding. Neurovalens is a health tech start-up run by co-founders Jason McKeown and Paul McGeoch.
What: The health tech start-up has secured a £1m grant from Invest Northern Ireland.
Why: The money will be used to create 22 new jobs to assist in the development of a medical device for the treatment of obesity and undertake clinical trials in collaboration with Ulster University and University of California San Diego.
Source: The Sunday Business Post
Instead of ‘Thought for the Week’, we are bringing you a weekly tracker using odds from oddschecker and taking off bookmakers margin to come up with deemed percentage probability of outcomes.
The current markets read as follows:
Last week had major shifts and this week just had pronounced positions where there “favourite” outcomes hardened
Some Sort of Brexit:
If you are not in agreement with any of above you can get the odds here and back your opinion: Oddschecker – Brexit
€30.4K
The average first post-university salary offered to young job-seekers based on data provided by Ireland’s biggest 250 employers, according to Gradireland. @IndoBusiness
4.1%
The year-on-year increase in mortgage approvals for August 2019 amounting to 4355 approvals to the value of €968m, According to Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI).@ IrishTimesBiz
2%
The inflation rate of grocery items in Irish supermarkets in the 12 weeks to September 8, according to Kantar survey. @examinerbiz
2.7%
The year-on-year decline in the number of overseas trips to Ireland for August 2019 amounting to 393,000, according to @CSOIreland
3.6%
The year-on-year increase in house prices in Belfast for August 2019, according to Zoopla’s index. @BelTel
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