Renatus Weekly M&A & Company Performance Newsletter 09/05/2021

Deal Details: Dublin-based and Nasdaq and London-listed Amryt Pharma has agreed to acquire Chiasma Inc. in an all-stock transaction. Chiasma has been reportedly valued at $330m (€277m). The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2021.

Amryt is a global commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing innovative treatments to help improve the lives of patients with rare and orphan diseases.

US-based Chiasma is a  biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing oral therapies to improve the lives of patients who face challenges associated with their existing treatments for rare and serious chronic diseases.

Advisers:
Amryt
Moelis & Company LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as legal advisor to Amryt in this transaction. Shore Capital is acting as NOMAD and Joint Broker to Amryt.

Gareth Cosgrove and his team in Grant Thornton Dublin also provided transaction support to Amryt.

Chiasma
Torreya Capital LLC is serving as financial advisor and Goodwin Procter LLP is serving as legal advisor to Chiasma. Chiasma’s Board of Directors was provided a fairness opinion by Duff & Phelps.

Renatus Comment: A trend which has been playing out over a long time is that of large pharmaceutical companies shifting towards M&A from R&D as they grow and mature. This has created an extremely active deal universe in the respective markets. Today, many of the leading products of major pharma companies were not developed in-house.

The concept applies across industries, particularly and more recently in technology. The larger and established players pursue aggressive M&A strategies to acquire cutting edge capabilities to ensure they stay at the top.

Source: Amryt Press Release @ Globalnewswire.com

Deal Details: Sovereign Capital Partners, a UK private equity company, has completed a significant investment in AquaQ Analytics (‘AquaQ’). The transaction details were not disclosed.

Belfast-headquartered AquaQ, founded in 2011, is a specialist data analytics and data science services business supporting global financial institutions.

AquaQ employs over 180 people across its offices in NI, the USA, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Sovereign is backing AquaQ founders Ronan Pairceir and James Bradley to further grow the company’s international presence and develop its range of services.

Along with Ronan Pairceir (CEO) and James Bradley (Chief Strategic Office), other members of AquaQ’s shareholding group prior to the investment included Jonny Press (CTO), Ciara McCloskey (HR Head), Jamie Grant (Technical Director), Bernadette McFarlane and Chirs McAuley.

Advisers: A Deloitte team of Anya Cummins, Denis Murphy, Andrew Johnston, Philippa Reynolds, and Peter Allen advised the shareholders of AquaQ

Law firm DWF advised Sovereign. Belfast partner James Morrison worked alongside partner Alasdair Outhwaite and associate Ciara Healy in Manchester and Liverpool partner James Cashman to deliver on the legal aspects of the investment.

Renatus Comment: Northern Ireland is establishing itself as a global hub for financial analytics technology. AquaQ is the latest emergent star following in the footsteps of First Derivatives who are a true success story.

It is interesting to see AquaQ leveraging First Derivatives’ kx and kdb+ products in its own offerings. It perhaps points to how one successful giant can promote the growth of its own market in its locality.

A similar dynamic has been witnessed in the MedTech sector in the West of Ireland with the positioning of American giants there and hopefully the likes of Stripe, et al will have this effect on Ireland’s already strong and emerging tech scene.

Source: Sovereign Capital

Deal Details:  DCC Energy Division, which trades in Ireland under the Emo brand, has agreed to acquire Jones Oil for an undisclosed sum.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Dublin-headquartered Jones Oil, founded in 1985, supplies home heating oil and commercial fuels to the agricultural, commercial, industrial and marine sectors. The company has 15 depots nationwide employing 150 staff and a fleet of 45 tanker trucks. Prior to the sale, CEO Pat Nevin owned 60% of the shares in Jones Oil. CFO Paul Curran owned 30% while Des Broderick owned 10%.

DCC is one of the leading fuel distribution companies in Ireland. The London-listed company is one of the biggest Irish companies by value with a market capitalisation of £6.25bn (€7.21bn), it is also a member of the FTSE 100 index of large companies.

DCC is highly acquisitive and has spent £3.3bn on 280 bolt-on acquisitions in the last 26 years since the company floated on the stock market.

Advisers: James Doody, Alex Penny & Mark Kelly of IBI Corporate Finance advised Jones Oil

Renatus Comment: While oil still plays a critical part in our lives, on a long-term perspective, the market is in structural decline due to advent of more efficient energy sources.

The general rule is that new industries are highly fragmented and consolidate as they mature. We should expect to see more activity and further consolidation in the oil market, all along the value chain, over the coming years.  

 Source: Independent

Deal Details: Inpute Technologies has been acquired by Barrow Active for an undisclosed sum.

Inpute, founded in 2000 by Aidan Bailey, specialises in digitisation and process automation software with offices in Dublin, London and Wroclaw Poland.

Barrow Active was established by Morgan McElligott in May 2020 to find and acquire established Irish SMEs with growth potential.

Advisers: Michael Coyle of Arthur Cox and Hazel Cryan & Alan Bromell of KPMG advised Barrow Active. Hibernia Corporate Finance and OBL advised Inpute.

Renatus Comment: Prior to the transaction, Inpute Technologies Ltd was owned by Aidan Bailey, Chirs Howard, David McConnell, Jane Lawlor, Ciaran Baily and Aidan Mullen. The business reported revenue of c. €3.0m in its financial year to Apr ’20 which was a c. 31% increase year-over-year.

Morgan McElligott  left the comfort of a fast track career in DCC to set up Barrow Active and on his own within a year has got what looks like a clever first deal. It is great to see a plan coming off when someone has the courage to back their convictions and hop off the PAYE ladder. 

Source: Inpute Technologies

Deal Details: The MHL Hotel Collection has acquired The Moxy Dublin City from Midwest Holding for around €35m in an off-market deal.

The MHL Hotel Collection was formed in 2013 by its three partners John Malone, Paul Higgins and John Lally.

Following the acquisition, MHL will comprise 12 hotels. Its brands also include The Westin, The Intercontinental, Powerscourt Resort, The Morgan, and the Strand Hotel in Limerick.

The Moxy Dublin City is located immediately behind the new Clery’s development in Dublin’s north inner city. It has 157 rooms.

The hotel benefits from its association with Marriott Worldwide being franchised as the Moxy Hotel and the first Moxy in Ireland.

Advisers: CBRE Hotels represented Midwest Holding on this transaction, led by Paul Collins and Alexandra Sheeran. 

A Mason Hayes & Curran team of Jamie Fitzmaurice and Maria Hickey provided  legal advice; David Moran of Twomey Moran was on tax while Adrian Shanagher of Firebreak (transaction manager) also acted for the sellers.

Alan Adams of Amoss provided legal advice and Deloitte on tax provided buy-side support to MHL.

Renatus Comment: For over a year now, the hospitality and tourism industry in Ireland has been faced with the unprecedented situation of being largely unable to trade, bar a couple months last summer. This is one of the first high profile deals completed in the domestic hotel market since the onset of the pandemic and more may follow due to the pent up flow of transactions after a quiet year and from some distressed situations given the circumstances.

Source: CBRE Press Release

Deal Details: Irish security and alarm company Action24 has agreed to acquire Integral Security. The deal value has not been disclosed however the figure is reported to be in the region of €2m.

Action24 was founded in 1981 and employs 75 staff. It provides monitored intruder and fire alarms, CCTV and access control solutions to over 20,000 commercial and residential clients across the country. Action24 is owned by Derek, Pat and Aaron Mooney. It has received backing from BGF.

Integral Security, based in Co. Dublin, provides security solutions to corporate and retail clients including Lifestyle Sports, the Irish Aviation Authority, Powercity and Café Sol. Prior to the transaction, Integral was led by Adrian Thompson and Paul O’Connor who will reportedly join Action24 on completion.

Advisers: Gavin Pitcher & David Regan of CKS Finance and Paul Bohan Solicitors advised Action24.

Renatus Comment: Both the B2C and B2B alarm M&A market has been active in recent times. Fortus Group acquired two businesses in March (RE:SURE and Enterprise Security Distribution) and HomeSecure was sold to Norweigian group Sector Alarms, among other deals.

Technology innovations in the sector, particularly with regard to remote and ongoing monitoring, have turned these businesses into highly efficient recurring revenue generators which make them extremely attractive targets for private capital and trade. We are in the middle of a number of players attempting to execute a roll-up in this sector.  

Source: RTE

Deal Details: Infobip Group, a Croatian-headquartered global cloud communications platform company, has acquired Anam Technologies. The deal consideration was not disclosed.

Anam Technologies, headquartered in Dublin, is the world’s leading independent SMS Firewall and A2P (Application-2-Person) Monetisation service provider, filtering billions of messages for Mobile Operators for more than 650m subscribers across 85 countries.

Infobip operates a full-stack Communications Platform as a Service with private cloud infrastructure and zero-hop connectivity to telecoms globally.

Following transaction, Anam will join Infobip’s Strategic Operator Partnerships division.

Advisers: Jan Fitzell; Sam Nolan and Gareth Sullivan of Deloitte Ireland M&A as well as Deloitte’s tax team advised Anam on the sale.

Eversheds Ireland, Morrison & Foerster and Ernst & Young also advised on this transaction.

Renatus Comment: Application-2-Person or A2P SMS is something that we are all likely familiar with, and interact with, but rarely consider the mechanics of. Dublin-based Anam Technologies is a global leader in this vertical and a critical partner to mobile network operators globally.   

A2P SMS creates value for an end client in a number of different ways. Whether it’s promotional content, such as a discount voucher from a restaurant or retail chain, or transactional type content such as an appointment reminder or delivery confirmation.

This will mark a successful exit for the Kelly family who own Anam through Kellysan Enterprises Ltd and for Darragh Kelly and Dr. Noel Kelly who lead the business. Darragh Kelly will be remaining on in the role as CEO after the acquisition.

Source: Anam Technologies

Deal Details: Carbery Group has announced the acquisition of leading savoury flavour and ingredient supplier, Innova Flavors, from Griffith Foods Worldwide.
Deal consideration was not disclosed.

Carbery Group is an international dairy, flavours and nutritional ingredients company headquartered in Ballineen, Co. Cork, Ireland. It is owned by four Irish co-operatives, Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, and employs almost 800 people, with 1215 local farmer suppliers. Carbery operates from 10 locations including Ireland, the UK, the USA, Brazil, Italy, Indonesia and Thailand and supplies more than 50 countries worldwide.

Carbery was established in 1965 and remains one of Ireland’s leading producers of award-winning cheeses for the industrial, foodservice and retail sectors. 

Innova supplies customised savoury flavours and ingredients to customers around the world. Its manufacturing facilities are based in the Chicago area, as is the HQ of Carbery’s international flavours business Synergy US.

Advisers: None Mentioned

Renatus Comment: This is another great step in Carberry Group’s story. Since the 1990s, the group has pursued an ambitious acquisition programme with the ambition of becoming a leading international supplier of added-value ingredients and flavours. Through a series of acquisitions in the UK, the USA, Europe, South America and Asia, Carbery has successfully built Synergy, its international flavours business.

Recent milestones have been the growth of the Kinetica and Optipep sports supplements brands and the opening of its €78m mozzarella facility in Ballineen, West Cork.

In its financial year to Dec ’20, Carberry Group reported revenue of €459.5m (up 5.8% YoY) and EBITDA of €44.9m (up 1% YoY).

Source: Carbery Group

Deal Details: ABP has reached agreement in principle with Fane Valley Co-op to acquire the remaining 50% holding in its red meat business, subject to approval by the relevant regulatory and competition authorities. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

The transaction includes Linden Foods in Northern Ireland and Slaney Foods and Irish Country Meats businesses in the Republic of Ireland. These businesses operated as an ABP/Fane Valley joint venture for the last 5 years.

ABP, founded in 1954 and headquartered in Ireland, is one of Europe’s leading privately owned food processors. It works with 35,000 farmers and contributes an estimated €1.3bn each year into the rural economies in which it operates.

Advisers: None Mentioned

Renatus Comment: ABP Food Group is the market leader in the domestic meat processing market and this acquisition marks another step in the consolidation of the industry. ABP Food Group employs 11,000+ people and has revenues in excess of €3bn.

Linden Foods reported revenue of £200.7m and EBIDA of £4.2m in its most recent financial year to September 2019 while Slaney Foods and Irish Country Meats are unlimited companies which do not disclose financials.

Source: ABP Food Group