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.
It’s only four more sleeps until the virtual Real Deal.
Matt Cooper will host a very engaging 45 minute chat with Dalata’s Pat McCann, who has an amazing career story, is a poster boy for how to build a business in a recession and is at the coal face of all things Brexit and COVID. We think having a professionally produced interview that goes deeper than normal 5-minute but doesn’t go beyond the hour will really appeal and if you haven’t already registered for The Real Deal 2020 webinar, please do so at: https://go.renatus.ie/e/
As part of The Real Deal 2020, along with our partners in Fitzgerald Power and Bank of Ireland, we are sleeping out in this year’s Focus Ireland Shine A Light campaign. Thanks to the generosity of our Real Deal attendees last year, we raised over €16k. As we are not charging a fee for this year’s live video broadcast, we would be grateful if you could make a small donation to support Focus Ireland’s cause against homelessness. Please donate here: https://go.renatus.ie/e/
Deal Details: Colm Piercy’s Chirisa Capital Management, a global investor active across Digital Infrastructure, Cloud, Communications and Security, and Real Estate, has exited its investment in 365 Data Centres following the acquisition of the business by Stonecourt Capital.
Chirisa has led the investment in 365 since 2017 alongside CEO Bob DeSantis and co-investors Lumerity Capital, Turning Rock Partners and Longboat Advisors. Over that time, 365 developed into one of the largest privately-owned operators across the eastern United States, delivering cloud, colocation and connectivity solutions to over 650 enterprise, carrier and content clients across 12 data centers and a further 21 network nodes.
Transaction details were not disclosed.
Advisers: None mentioned.
Renatus Comment: Colm Piercy is arguably one of Ireland’s most successful TMT entrepreneurs and has an uncanny ability to grow digital infrastructure assets from the ground and exit at a huge price. In addition to this super exit, Silicon republic reported that Piercy’s strike price on exit of Dataplex was €66m in 2017 – he was one of the first into the data centre game with that play. The 2015 disposal of part of the telecoms infrastructure business Viatel was reported to be valued at €100m. Chirisa also has a number of other telecom infrastructure assets globally and is an active venture and real estate investor.
Source: Chirisa Press Release
Deal Details: Newry food-to-go manufacturer Around Noon has acquired Drogheda-based Simply Fit Food for an undisclosed sum.
Around Noon has been in business for 30 years and employs over 300 people. It supplies a broad range of high-quality sandwiches, wraps, salads, fruit pots and cold pressed juices to customers including forecourt and convenience retailers and cafes.
Simply Fit Food, co-founded by Luke Judge and Evelyn Garland in 2016, supplies a range of healthy convenience meals made from wholesome, natural ingredients, which are available to purchase online as well as through several convenience retailers.
Advisers: None Mentioned
Renatus Comment: This is the latest deal in a series of acquisitions made by Around Noon, including its acquisition of Chef-in-a-Box Donegal Investment Group Plc in 2017 and Sweet Things from Dublin-based owners in 2016. The business is run by previous EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist Gareth Chambers.
As proven by Greencore’s struggling share price this a challenging sector and the current challenges will more than likely lead to consolidation in the space.
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Deal Details: Nursing home group Carechoice has acquired Newtownpark House in Blackrock, Co Dublin. The deal is rumoured to be worth around €10m.
The 59-bedroom Newtownpark House is the only fully private nursing home in the republic. Its three-acre grounds include 12 retirement bungalows.
Carechoice now owns 11 nursing homes in the State with a total of 1,100 residential care beds and a staff of 1,350.
Advisers: Towerview were the financial advisor while solicitors Mason Hayes & Curran acted as legal counsel to Carechoice on the transaction. JPA Brenson Lawlor acted as financial advisor and Simmons & Simmons acted as legal counsel to the shareholders of Newtownpark House.
Renatus Comment: The Irish nursing home market is a very active space. In the last few months alone German healthcare investor IMMAC acquired two homes in Dublin, Blackbee acquired seven homes, French operator Orpea acquired TLC for c.€150m and acquired a 50% stake in Brindley Healthcare. Aging demographics suggested more beds will be needed and activity in the space is expected to remain strong.
Source: Irish Times
Deal Details: KPMG in Ireland has acquired leading urban planning, economics and applied research consultancy Future Analytics Consulting for an undisclosed sum.
Future Analytics, founded by Prof. William Hynes and Stephen Purcell in 2010, provides services to the state, semi-state, private sector and European Commission in the areas of planning and economic consultancy.
Future Analytics’ staff of 27 will be fully integrated within KPMG, and William Hynes and Stephen Purcell will lead the new KPMG Future Analytics unit.
Advisers: Dillon Eustace team, led by Partner Philip Lea with support from Lorcan Tiernan (Partner and Head of Corporate & M&A), John Doyle (Partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution), David Lawless (Head of Tax), acted for Future Analytics on the legal side.
Renatus Comment: Increasingly the big accounting practices are moving into the consulting space. Doloitte has made a number of acquisitions, BDO acquired Eaton Square, EY acquired DKM Economic Consultants and PwC acquired regtech company KYC-Pro. Deloitte’s commitment to the space was proven by the appointment of its consulting head Harry Goddard as Managing Partner in Ireland.
Source: KPMG Press Release
Dublin-headquartered educational technology company Skillsoft and a US-based Global Knowledge are reportedly in talks to merge and simultaneously go public through Churchill Capital Corp II.
Both companies have faced financial distress in recent months. Global Knowledge’s first-lien loan due in 2021 is trading at about 55 cents on the dollar, according to Bloomberg. Skillsoft filed for bankruptcy in June, citing a decline in customers. Skillsoft’s restructuring plan cut its debt by about $1.5bn and left it with $50m of liquidity.
Source: Irish Times
Eight Fifty Food Group, owned by Irishman Seamus Fitzpatrick’s UK PE fund Capvest, is reported to be engaging with advisers about its growth options, which may include a float or sale option. The food group’s brands include Young’s Seafood as well as pork-processing companies Karro and Callan Bacon.
Source: The Business Post
Maximum Media Network, the company behind Joe.ie has received approval from the High Court for a €10.5m investment from Greencastle Acquisition Ltd. The deal includes a includes a €300k investment in share subscription in MMN, secured loan facilities and €2m in working capital facilities.
Source: Independent
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 Dungannon Co. Tyrone, Linergy develops renewable fuels from organic waste.
In its latest fiscal year, the company saw revenue decrease by 8.6% to c. £12.4m while EBITDA increased by 59.6% to c. £1.9m. This was due to gross margin expanding from 57.6% in FY17 to 67.2% this year.
The company had a net cash increase of c. £2.0m in FY19 leaving an ending cash balance of c. £5.6m. The most significant cash movements were the c. £679k spent on fixed asset purchases the c. £789k investment in working capital movement.
The company employed an average of 53 employees in FY19 at a cost of c. £2.1m.
Norish plc is a leading provider of temperature-controlled warehousing and related services to the food manufacturing, distribution, retail and foodservice sectors. It also has a dairy division with dairy farming operations in Kilkenny and Grass to Milk Company Limited, a company developing an A2-protein milk supply and combining this with novel dairy processing IP, to develop an early-life stage milk-based beverage targeting high-value export markets. Grass to Milk Company is targeting commercial production in the second half of 2020.
In its latest fiscal year, the company saw revenue decrease by 0.8% to c. £36.5m while EBITDA increased by 21.3% to c. £4.6m. Of that revenue figure, c. 41% was generated through the Cold Stores division, 56% from sourcing while the remainder from the Dairy division.
The company had a net cash decrease of c. £489k in FY19 leaving an ending cash balance of c.£1.0m. The most significant drain on cash was the c. £2.1m spent on the purchase of Plant and machinery and a Dairy cattle herd.
The Company employed an average of 160 people in FY19 at a total cost of c. £5.17m.
Who: Croom Precision Medical, a precision engineering business founded by Paddy Byrnes in 1984, has secured investment.
What: A multi-million euro investment comes from PE firm BGF. Michael Maher, the former COO of Glen Dimplex, is also investing alongside BGF and will join the board as the independent non-executive Chairman.
BGF was advised by George Kennedy of Holmes O’Malley Sexton on legals and Martin Treacy and Louis O’Neill of EY provided corporate finance advice. Croom was advised by David Ryan and Declan Cunningham from Flynn O’Driscoll solicitors and Mark Rogers and Mary McNamara from EY on fiancial due diligence.
Why: The company said it plans to use the investment to expand its existing facility, invest in new capital equipment and create the new jobs.
Source: RTE
Who: Greenlight Medicines, an Irish cannabis research company. Founded in 2014 by James Linden, Dublin-headquartered
What: After last year raising a €1.8m investment from Canadian-listed SOL Group for a c. 27% share of the business (implied c. €6.6m value), the bsusiness has sold a 25% share now to German cannabis form Sunbiotic for an undisclosed sum.
Why: No details provided.
Source: The Sunday Times
Who: iNua Hospitality, a leading Irish regional hotel group. Hotels in the group include Muckross Park Killarney and Radisson Hotels in Athlone, Cork and Sligo.
What: The business has raised c. €5m in funding from its existing investors.
Why: The new funding is reported to support the business through the winter.
Source: The 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 with details of key recent executive and board level appointments.
Source: LinkedIn
https://go.renatus.ie/e/
The probabilities for next US president based on odds are thus:
– 65% Joe Biden (2/5 odds)
– 32% Trump (15/8 odds)
– 1% Mike Pence (66/1)
– 1% Kamala Harris (80/1 odds)
In our opinion, all of the candidates pale in significance to the leadership abilities and substance of Pat McCann – don’t forget to register to hear his thoughts this Thursday on
https://go.renatus.ie/e/
3.8%
The year-on-year increase in the agricultural sector across the State for 2019 amounting to an operating surplus of €3.055bn, according to @CSOIreland
1.2%
The year-on-year decrease in the Irish consumer price index for September 2020 with the most notable changes in Communications (-8.1%) and Education (+4.1%), according to @CSOIreland
30%
The year-on-year decline in the NI construction levels for Q2 2020, this covers the period directly after the lockdown was imposed across the UK, according to NISRA. @BelTel_Business
19.2% & 26.4%
The year-on-year decrease in the traffic volumes in regional locations and Dublin, respectively, for September 2020 while the volume of cyclists in Dublin city was up by 6.9%, according to @CSOIreland
-5.3% & 9.7%
The year-on-year reduction and increase in the Irish production and turnover indices, respectively, for August 2020, according to @CSOIreland
2.5%
2.5% – The year-on-year decrease in the new car sales in Northern Ireland for September 2020, amounting to 5010 new cars sold, according to SMMT. @BelTel
c. €10bn-€11bn
The Central Bank of Ireland’s estimated revenue shortfall across the Irish SME sector as result of economic disruption caused by Covid-19. @IndoBusiness
Renatus’ Knowledge Centre
Our Knowledge Centre is filled with insights from some of Ireland’s top business leaders on Succession Planning, Management Buyouts / Buy-Ins, Growth Financing and much more.
Receive this Newsletter Direct to your Inbox
To receive Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter directly to your inbox, click the button below and subscribe to the newsletter.
