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Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter – 01/08/2021
August 1, 2021
Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter – 15/08/2021
August 15, 2021
August 8, 2021

Uniphar acquires BestMSLs Group, KanDo Medical acquires Medilex, MBO of Leading Edge Project Directors, StoneX acquires Chasing Returns and much more in this weeks Renatus Private Equity weekly M&A newsletter.

Renatus Private Equity Dublin, Ireland

Renatus Weekly M&A & Company Performance Private Equity Newsletter 08/08/2021

Dear Reader,

Please find below this week’s newsletter covering the latest M&A, company performance, fundraisings and executive moves.

M&A ACTIVITY

Uniphar acquires BestMSLs Group

Uniphar

Deal Details: Uniphar has acquired NY-headquartered BestMSLs Group for a reported $36m (€30.2m).

BestMSLs Group comprises BestMSLs, the Doctor’s Channel and MDea. It provides outsourced medical affairs services and a range of innovative digital solutions for its pharma partners. The Doctor’s Channel is a digital platform which delivers expert medical information condensed into short streaming videos. MDea provides medical education services.

Uniphar services the requirements of more than 200 multinational pharmaceutical and medical technology manufacturers across three divisions – Commercial & Clinical, Product Access and Supply Chain & Retail.

In its financial year to December 2020, Uniphar reported revenue of c. €1.8bn and EBITDA of c. €66.7m.

Advisers: Barry Murphy, Niall Gilchrist, Lauren O’Sullivan of Davy  acted as Joint Broker, Nominated Adviser and Euronext Growth Adviser

Jonathan Hardy, Jamil Miah, Priyal Soni of RBC Capital Markets – Joint Broker

Matt Blawat, Ben Maddison, Francis North of Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited – Joint Broker

Renatus Comment: This is the second acquisition by Uniphar in the past two weeks, having recently acquired CoRRect, a German-based distributor of medical devices.

Uniphar have been very acquisitive over the past couple years as it pursues geographic expansion across Europe and the US. BestMSLs is its third US acquisition since the start of 2020 and we should expect to see more over the coming years.

Public markets has responded positively to recent activity with Uniphar’s share price up almost 3x since the onset of Covid.

Source: Uniphar press release; Financial Times

KanDo Medical acquires Medilex

KanDo Medical acquires Medilex

Deal Details: KanDo Medical Ltd has acquired Medilex Ltd for an undisclosed sum.

KanDo Medical, based in Dublin, is a healthcare solutions provider founded by David O’Keeffe in 2018. It brings medical technologies from around the world to the healthcare community in Ireland.

Medilex, founded in 2007 by Brian Bailey, is a medical device distributor based in Dublin. It partners with some of the worlds most innovative interventional cardiology and radiology suppliers.

Advisers:
KanDo
Dave Howick of FHM Accountants – Financials
Eamonn Shannon of Shannon & O’Connor Solicitors LLP – Legals

Medilex
Conal Sherry of Walsh O’Brien Harnett
Colin Sainsbury of Byrne Wallace Solicitors – Legals

 

Renatus Comment: Medilex Medical opens up new therapy areas in hospitals for KanDo Medical. This bolt-on acquisition should result in marginal additional cost and be value accretive.

This is KanDo’s second acquisition in the sector. In 2019 KanDo acquired Fleetwood Healthcare, a medical device distributor focused on Endoscopy, Urology and Women’s Health.

Given O’Keeffe’s growth record in much larger platforms in the medical device sector, it won’t be a surprise to see future additional acquisitions.

Source: KanDo press release

Cancom UK&I has been acquired by Telefonica

Cancom UK&I has been acquired by Telefonica

Deal Details: Telefonica Tech has acquired Cancom UK&I from Cancom Group in a deal worth €398m at a multiple of 13.5x EV/OIBDA (Operating Income before Depreciation and Amoritisation) (based on 2021E).

Belfast-based Cancom UK&I was formed in January 2021 after three acquisitions were completed in both the UK and Ireland by the CANCOM Group.

It delivers a range of Technology services across the public and private sectors, holding the highest accreditations from Technology and software leaders.

Telefónica Tech, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, offers a wide range of services and integrated Technological solutions in Cybersecurity, Cloud, IoT, Big Data and Blockchain.

Advisers: KPMG Ireland advised Cancom SE, providing vendor financial and tax due diligence services in relation to this transaction.

Renatus Comment: Telefonica Tech was formed in 2019 to manage the multinational’s range of cloud, security and other IT services. Telefonica are looking to diversify its revenue lines and position themselves as partners to businesses looking to transition to more digital infrastructure. It is an example of a large company moving with the times in order to continue growing.

According to Telefonica, Cancom UK&I recorded €155m of revenue in 2020 (expected to be c. €190m in 2021), of which Managed and Professional Services represent more than 50%. Telefonica Tech itself has grown its revenues by more than 25% in the first half of 2021.

Source: Telefonica press release

StoneX acquires Chasing Returns

Deal Details: It has been reported that Irish fintech Chasing Returns has been acquired by US-based and Nasdaq-listed StoneX for an undisclosed sum.

Chasing Returns, which was established by CEO Ann Hunt who is formerly of JP Morgan, is a software product which aims to inform day traders about their trading behaviour. It uses behavioural science to track day traders’ actions and provide feedback, with the aim of making them more disciplined traders and ultimately more successful.

StoneX is an institutional-grade financial services network that connects companies, organizations, traders and investors to the global markets ecosystem through a unique blend of digital platforms, end-to-end clearing and execution services.

Advisers: Conor Sheehan’s team in CKS Finance provided corporate finance advice to Chasing Returns shareholders while Sean Hiney of Wallace Corporate Council providing legal advice.

Renatus Comment: Day trading has experienced a marked increase in notoriety since the onset of Covid and it is great to see an Irish company participating in its growth.

Chasing Returns was reportedly backed by Enterprise Ireland, the National Digital Research Centre and Ivan Fox, the former Chairman of Merrion Capital, prior to this deal.

Notably, in December 2020, Chasing Returns announced a milestone partnership with Gain Capital to make Chasing Return’s product available to Gain’s trading platforms including Forex.com and City Index. Gain Capital is also owned by StoneX which may have been the spark in making this deal happen.

Source: The Irish Times

Veeva acquires Learnaboutgmp

Veeva acquires Learnaboutgmp

Deal Details: US-based Veeva has announced its acquisition of Cork-based Learnaboutgmp, a provider of accredited GxP training for life sciences for an undisclosed sum.

Learnaboutgmp has more than 170 course titles and over 450 microlearning assets, in its eLearning library which helps organisations develop learning programs for their employees. Content is centred around GxP training which is is a collection of quality guidelines and regulations created to ensure that bio/pharmaceutical products are safe, meet their intended use, and adhere to quality processes during manufacturing, control, storage, and distribution. Prior to the transaction, the business was led by its CEO Graham O’Keeffe.

Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) is a provider of cloud software for the life sciences industry. Veeva serves more than 1,000 customers, ranging from the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to emerging biotechs.

​​​​​​

Advisers: A ReganWall team comprised of Adrian Wall (partner) and Sean Daly (associate) represented the seller. Dave O’Brien of Quintas provided tax and structuring advice. Eversheds London acted for Veeva. ​​​​​​

Renatus Comment: Founded in Cork in 2006, Learnaboutgmp today counts some of the largest life sciences companies globally as customers. The list includes Mylan, Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Merck, and many others. It is another example of the downstream impact that the positioning of large multinationals here can have on local business and entrepreneurship.

Source: PE Newswire

MBO of Leading Edge Project Directors

Deal Details: Leading Edge Project Directors (“LEPD”) management, led by Chirs Barrett, has completed a management buyout of the business.

LEPD specialises in project and development management in the property and construction industry. The business was founded in 2003 by PJ Monaghan and Tommy Murray. Chris Barrett, who is a former Mayo footballer and All Star, joined the business in 2013 and will now become managing director. PJ Monaghan will step into the Chairman role post-deal.

LEPD customers include the HSE, Bain Capital, Centric Health, among others.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: It is always great to see a business transition from founder to management. The entrepreneur is able to crystalise their value while leaving the business in the hands of senior management colleagues. For management, it is a chance to participate in the equity value that they have helped create.

In Renatus, we are eager to support ambitious management teams across all industries who are thinking of pursuing an MBO. Our door is always open if you, or someone you know, might be thinking of going down this route.

Source: Irish Times

Deals Updates & Other News

Smarttech247 to list in UK

Smarttech247, a Cork-based cyber security company is planning to list on London’s Alternative Investment Market via reverse takeover mechanism.
As part of the reverse takeover, Conduity Capital will acquire Smarttech by issuing shares worth €39.3m.
Reverse takeover enables firms to secure a stock market listing without having to engage in an initial public offering process.

Source: Independent

Amryt completes acquisition of Chiasma

 

It has been reported this morning that Dublin-based Amryt Pharma’s acquisition of Chiasma has completed for consideration reported to be $339m.

Amryt is a global commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing innovative treatments. US-based Chiasma is a  biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing oral therapies.

Source: Business Post

COMPANY PERFORMANCE

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.

Galway Harbour Company

Galway Harbour Company runs and operates the Port of Galway.

Revenue and EBITDA were down by c. 21% and c. 13% to €3.7m and €1.3m, respectively, for the period ending FY Dec 20. This decline is linked to covid which had an impact on the volume of imports.

The cash balance increased by c. €535k during the year to end at c. €6.4m. The main uses of cash were fixed asset purchases (€484k) and debt repayments (€355k)

The company employs 15 people at an annual cost of c. €1.3m. Ownership of the Galway Harbour was transfered from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to Galway City Council at the beginning of 2021.

Leaseplan Information Services Limited

Leaseplan Information Services Limited, trading as Leaseplan, is global Car-as-a-Service company and also has a pan-European used car marketplace. The Irish operation is based in Leopardstown, Dublin.

Accounts for the Irish segment of the business for the period ending FY Dec 20 show that revenue and EBITDA increased by c. 12% and c. 20% to €62.6m and €6.7m, respectively.

The closing cash balance decreased by c. €1.1m during the year to end at c. €153k. The big drains on cash were an investment into working capital, capitalised software development costs and fixed asset purchases. These were partially offset by intercompany loans received.

The company is part of the Leaseplan Group which employs over 8,000 people and has offices in over 30 countries.

RECENT FUNDRAISINGS

Who: Weston Airport, on the border of Dublin and Kildare, secures investment.

What: The investment value, in exchange of a majority stake, was not disclosed. The investment group was led by Derick Walshe, a Limerick-based financier. The other investors include Stripe co-founder John Collison, John Brennan, Catherine Green and Gerald Dundon.

Why: The investment is to be used for modernising the bar, restaurant and conference facilities to create a best-in-class visitor experience, as well as improving the terminal, aircraft storage and hangar areas.

Source: Irish Times ​​​​

Who: Irish consumer subscription service Noa – News Over Audio – secures investment.

What: €200,000 comes from Australian edtech Go1.

Why: The deal will see Noa’s narrated articles become available to Go1’s subscriber base of more than 3.5m learners who are undertaking career education and training courses.

Source: Irish Times

Who: Finbourne, an Irish-led data integration and management platform for investment firms, has raised funding.

What: €17.6m Series-A round was funded by a group of investors including Fidelity International.

Why: The purpose of funding was not disclosed.

Source: Independent

Who: Polywork, Irish-founded professional social network, has raised funding.

What: $13m (€11m) Series A funding round was led by Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from the Collison brothers of Stripe, and others, including individuals from Instagram and Reddit. This latest funding round quickly follows a reported $3.5m raised by Polywork just 3 months ago.

Why: The funding is to be used to boost staff numbers and invest in its platform.

Source: Irish Times

Who: Marketing software company Zymplify has secured funding.

What: Invest NI has offered the company £182,000 as part of company’s investment of £1.5m.

Why: The funding will be used towards creating new jobs in the company.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

Who: Dublin-based Tracker Software Technologies has raised funding. The business has developed a software package that helps businesses manage employee business travel and remote working. Features include management of Taxation, Immigration, Duty of Care and Remote Working. It was founded by its CEO Liam Brennan.

What: It has been reported that $2m has been raised from existing backers. Backers reportedly include ECA International, a similar business.

Why: The funds will be used to fund growth as the business has stated it aims to hire 30 more employees.

Source: Business Post

EXECUTIVE AND BOARD APPOINTMENTS

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 with details of key recent executive and board level appointments.


Karl Rogers

Source:
(Google Images & LinkedIn)


Neil Collins

Source:
(Google Images & LinkedIn)


Peter Hyland

Source:
(Google Images & LinkedIn)

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

In the short to medium term, every government will be faced with the dilemma of balancing the books versus keeping fuel in the fire. The FT had a great description of same yesterday:

“There are two schools of thought” said one minister. “One is that you’re a 400lb man and you should lose some weight; the other is you’re a 400lb man and one more burger won’t hurt.”

Rishi Sunak is very much in the balance the books camp while Boris is in the spend today pay tomorrow camp.

The mood from Kildare St. seems to be to keep the fuel in the fire. It will be years before we know what the right approach should be.

@RenatusCapital Tweets

63.3

The AIB Ireland PMI for July 2021, a slight decrease from June reading of 64. A figure above 50 indicates growth in the sector. @IrishTimesBiz

90,342

The number of new cars registered in Ireland year-to-date July 2021 compared to 74,056 for the same period in 2020 (+22%) and 105,439 in 2019 (-14.3%), according to @SIMI_IE

15.9%

The year-on-year increase in the value of Irish services output for June 2021. The largest annual increases were in Accommodation and Food Service Activities (+57.1%), according to @CSOIreland

€8.3bn

The overall amount of Irish PUP payments made during the Covid-19 pandemic as of 1st week of August 2021. The number of people in receipt of the PUP is just under 163,400 this week – the lowest level since the pandemic began. @RTE

26%

The year-on-year decrease in the Northern Ireland car sales for July 2021 amounting to 3,248 new cars sold, according to @BelTel

8.9%

The year-on-year increase in the average cost of home in Northern Ireland for July 2021 with the average price for a house at £164,023, according to @BelTel

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ABOUT RENATUS

Renatus was established in 2014 to provide growth funding to growing Irish SMEs and to partner with ambitious management teams to help companies reach their full potential.

Renatus targets companies with sustainable earnings of €1m+ and valuations typically in the range of €5m – €20m. Our typical solutions include:

  • Succession planning
  • Management buyouts
  • Management buy-ins
  • Growth financing – both organic and acquisition growth financing
  • Full and partial share sale.
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    Adrian Stackpoole, Digital Marketing Associate

    • Adrian joined Renatus in 2018, initially as a Marketing Executive before moving into the role of Digital Marketing Associate. As part of his role, Adrian manages all the digital marketing aspects of Renatus as well as conducting digital research for portfolio companies.
    • Adrian holds with a BBS degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Limerick, as well as a Postgraduate degree from The Digital Marketing Institute.
    • Prior to joining Renatus, Adrian worked in New York with a start-up hospitality group, specalising in marketing and operations.
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    Tiernan O’Hagan, Associate

    • Tiernan recently joined Renatus Capital Partners as a Private Equity Associate. As part of his role, he researches and analyses the potential of new investments and acquisitions
    • Tiernan graduated with a B.Sc in business and law from DIT Aungier street & an MSc. in Entrepreneurship from Trinity College Dublin.
    • Previously worked with Capnua Corporate Finance for three months during a summer internship.
    • Tiernan is also in the process of sitting ACCA exams.
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    Bronagh Kearns, Associate

      • Bronagh recently joined Renatus as a Private Equity Associate. As part of her role, she will be researching and executing investment opportunities.
      • Bronagh holds a MSc in Quantitative Finance from UCD Michael Smurfit Business School and a BSc in Finance from University College Cork. Currently, Bronagh is in the process of obtaining the ACCA qualification.
      • Prior to joining Renatus, Bronagh worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in Rubicon Capital Advisors where she worked on M&A transactions on the execution side and financial modelling in the infrastructure sector. She also worked as an Investment Associate in River and Mercantile Solutions in London quantitatively screening different investment opportunities across all asset classes.
    Alan Manning Renatus

    Alan Manning, Associate

    • Alan joined Renatus Capital Partners in September 2021 as a Private Equity Associate. As part of his role, Alan researches and analyses potential investments and acquisitions.
    • Alan holds a B.Sc Finance from University College Cork.
    • Previously working in KPMG’s Consulting division, with the Financial Management Consulting team. During his time there he was engaged on a Finance Function Review for a European Travel Technology firm, and a review of the cash management strategy of an Irish Commercial Bank.
    • In the process of sitting ACCA exams.

    Conor Hall, Associate

    • Conor joined Renatus Capital Partners in June 2018 as a Private Equity Associate. As part of his role, Conor researches and analyses potential investments and acquisitions.
    • Conor holds an M.Sc. in Quantitative Finance from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a B.Sc. in Economics & Finance from UCD. He is currently working towards attaining the ACCA and CFA qualifications.
    • Prior to joining Renatus, Conor worked as an Analytics Analyst with Accenture, specialising in predictive modelling for fraud.

    Kyle Barry, Associate

    • Kyle joined Renatus Capital Partners in June 2016 as a Private Equity Associate. As part of Kyle’s role, he researches and analyses the potential of new investments and acquisitions.
    • Since joining, Kyle has worked on numerous transactions, including Simtech and Rennicks, and has worked with Renatus’ investee companies on a number of strategic projects.
    • Kyle holds an MSc. in Quantitative Finance (University College Dublin) and a BA Finance (Maynooth University). Currently, Kyle is in the process of completing the ACCA qualification.
    • Prior to joining Renatus, Kyle spent 15 months in Intel’s Finance department where he worked across the financial reporting, tax and capital financing teams.

    Philip Gardiner, Associate Director

    • Philip is an Associate Director with Renatus Capital Partners, having first joined the firm as its first employee in 2014.
    • Philip has responsibility for screening, assessment and structuring of new acquisitions.
    • He has worked on a number of transactions at Renatus including Boojum Mexican Restaurants and Simtech Aviation. Philip works actively with the boards of Boojum and Simtech Aviation.
    • Prior to joining Renatus, Philip spent four years in AIB’s corporate banking team where he worked on a mix of real estate and cash flow lending deals.
    • Philip is a member of the ACCA and holds an MSc. in Financial Services and a Bachelor in Business Studies, both from the University of Limerick.

    Jane Martin, Marketing and Administration Manager

    • Jane joined Renatus Capital Partners in June 2019 as a Marketing and Administration Manager. As part of Jane’s role, she writes the weekly newsletter, works on the CRM and looks after the admin and ad hoc tasks
    • Prior to joining Renatus, Jane worked as a Senior Account Manager in Mace Promotions where she worked closely with many SMEs as well as large corporations on their marketing projects

    Mark Flood, Director

    • Mark co-founded Renatus with Brendan Traynor in 2014. Prior to establishing Renatus, Mark spent seven years on the senior management team of the Racing Post in various operational and commercial roles. Before founding Renatus, Mark was Managing Director of the Racing Post’s Irish operation.
    • Prior to his career in the Racing Post, Mark was the first employee of FL Partners, an Irish based international private equity firm, where he was actively involved in over €300m worth of transactions.
    • Mark combines his financial, operational and commercial experience to bring value and energy to all partner companies.
    • Mark is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Masters in Accounting from NUI Galway.

    Brendan Traynor, Director

    • Brendan is a co-founder of Renatus. Prior to establishing Renatus, he was a Director in BDO Corporate Finance specialising in M&A, MBO’s/MBI’s, debt and private equity fundraising across a diverse range of sectors and clients.
    • His career focus and passion is the Irish SME sector and his deal expertise covers sectors such as retail, manufacturing, FMCG, healthcare, avaiation, media, medical devices, food and agriculture, construction, and hotels and leisure.
    • Brendan is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin

    Conor Mehigan, Associate Director

    • Conor joined Renatus Capital Partners in 2021 as an Associate Director. Conor has responsibility for screening, assessment and structuring of new investments and acquisitions.
    • Prior to joining Renatus, Conor spent five years in IBI Corporate Finance specialising in M&A, debt and private equity fundraising for private and public companies across a range of sectors. Prior to his career in IBI Corporate Finance, Conor spent four years in Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Division, specialising in Transaction Services
    • Conor is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc in Finance from University College Cork

    Greg Dilger, Strategic Advisor

    • Greg Dilger is a former Executive Director of NCB Stockbrokers and Investec Wealth & Investment.
    • He is an investor and advisor to Renatus and brings years of relevant experience to our team.
    • Greg is also currently a Non-Executive Director of Brewin Dolphin Ireland.
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    Patrick Dooley, Associate Director

    • Patrick joined Renatus in November 2022 as an Associate Director. Patrick has responsibility for screening, assessment and structuring of new investments and acquisitions.
    • Patrick previously held leading positions in Focus Capital Partners, PKF O’​Connor, Leddy & Holmes & EY.
    • Patrick is a charted accountant and holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance degree from DCU, along with a Masters degree in Accounting from TUD.

    John Dwyer, Chairman

    • John joined Renatus in 2018 as a Chairman. Prior to Renatus, John spent 30 years at PwC in the UK, 20 years as a Partner, John led the UK and Global Deals business at PwC and was an executive board member of the UK firm.
    • Prior to that, John led the UK and Global Private Equity business at PwC and worked with firms including 3i Group, Apax Partners, CVC Capital Partners and Cinven.
    • John is married to Natasha and they have three children. John works between Dublin and London and his charity work includes chairmanship of Irish Youth Foundation UK.
    • He is an advisor and Board member of Irish digital marketing firm Pigsback and media firm Racing Post.
    • John is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UCD.