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Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter – 05/01/2020
January 5, 2020
Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter – 26/01/2020
January 26, 2020
January 19, 2020

Dublin-founded Pointy is acquired by Google, Talbot Group is sold to Belgian investors, Coca Cola HBC appoints new General Manager, multiple fundraising announcements, and much more in this week's Renatus M&A Newsletter.

Renatus Private Equity Dublin, Ireland

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.

M&A ACTIVITY

Pointy acquired by Google

Deal Details: Pointy, a Dublin-founded retail technology start-up is to be acquired by Google in a deal believed to be worth €150m. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the coming weeks.

Pointy, founded in 2014 by Mark Cummins and Charles Bibby, makes a technology that connects the inventory of local shops to online e-commerce channels. It makes a ‘Pointy Box’ that connects to a shop’s barcode scanner and automatically lists the shop’s products online, optimising them for search engines.

Google swooped when it saw that Pointy was gaining traction with US retailers.
Pointy launched in the United States in 2016, and by the end of 2019 it was being used by over 10,000 U.S. stores, or 1% of U.S. retailers, giving it a lot of runway for growth.

Pointy has raised €16.2m total in funding. Its early investors included the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Bebo, Michael Birch and the co-founder of Transferwise, Taavet Hinrikus. Dublin-based Frontline Ventures, Bono, Richmond Marketing’s Barry Connolly and Alan Metcalfe, tech investor Noel Ruane, Trevor Parsons, co-founder of Irish tech company Logentries, Ed Byrne of Texas-based venture firm Scaleworks, former Amazon exec Tony Killalea, Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen and Jamie Heaslip. It later raised funding from VS firms Polaris, Draper Associates and Vulcan Capital.

Advisers: None mentioned

Renatus Comment: Pointy is a product that many of us would have been using without realising it. It’s a compelling solution which brings brick-and-mortar stock and purchase information into the Google search, undercutting other ecommerce aggregators and offering a new streamlined route to market for SME retailers.

This is Google’s fourth acquisition of a young Irish company and the second time Pointy’s co-founder Mark Cummins has sold a company to the tech giant. In 2010 Google acquired Plink, a separate start-up by Mr Cummins.

Google also snapped up TCD campus companies Thrive in 2015 and Green Parrot Pictures in 2011.

Source: Pointy; Irish Independent

Talbot Group sold to Belgian investors

Deal Details: Talbot Group, an operator of 20 respite homes across Ireland for adults with intellectual disability and acquired brain injury and a community care services facility in Stamullen, Co. Meath, has been acquired by Belgian investment vehicle Care4Invest.

Talbot Group was founded by brothers Dr. Tony Woods and Michael Woods and is today run by CEO Laverne McGuinness.

Care4Invest, led by Alec de Changy and Benoit Duplat, is an investment vehicle focused on care services. Other investments by Care4Invest include a residential and supported-living services for adults with an intellectual disability in the north of England and a care group in Belgium.

The Talbot Group deal was financed by London-based Sequoia Asset IDF.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: The care space in Ireland is a sector of focus with a lot of investment capital coming into the sector over the last few years. The nursing home space has seen the largest inflow of capital so far with a wall of domestic and foreign investors entering the market to consolidate homes into larger groups, with BGF’s €10m minority investment into Brindley Healthcare, CareChoice’s €70m acquisition by French investor InfraVia, Cork-based financial firm BlackBee targeting a €250m fund for residential care, and Waterland Private Equity majority acquisition of Silver Stream Health Group, among others. Investments have also been made into other parts of the care space, including MML’s investments into Ashdale Care, a provider of care for young people, and Irish HomeCare, a provider of  in home services with for people with dementia.

Source: The Sunday Times

Deals in the Making

Harvest Acquisition Falls Through

Deal Details: St. James’ Place’s proposed acquisition of Harvest Financial Services Group has fallen through. St. James’ Place is a British-based wealth manager while Harvest is a Dublin-based financial advisor. The deal had previously been agreed and was subject to approval by the Central Bank. However, St. James’ Place have now exited the deal due to “strategic decisions”.

Source: Sunday Independent

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.

New Managing Partner appointed at O’Flynn Exhams
Law firm, O’Flynn Exhams, has announced the appointment of Shane Crossan as the firm’s new managing partner, succeeding Richard Neville.  Mr Neville, who served as managing partner for more than a decade, will continue as a partner, heading up the firm’s corporate department.  Mr Crossan has wide experience across a range of practice areas and recently served as head of the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution department.

HOMS Solicitors appoints new Banking Partner
Holmes O’Malley Sexton Solicitors has announced the appointment of Lisa Killeen as a partner in the banking team.  Ms Killeen, who will also play a key role in the firm’s construction unit, joined the firm in 2013, having previously worked at William Fry.  She specialises in banking and finance transactions and regularly advises both lenders and borrowers on secured and unsecured lending.  Ms Killeen also practises in all aspects of commercial property law.

Coca Cola HBC appoints new General Manager
Australian businessman, Miles Karemacher, has been appointed as General Manager for Ireland at Coca Cola HBC.  Mr Karemacher moved from his role as Commercial Excellence Director for Coca Cola in Milan to take up his appointment in Ireland.  He is a former senior executive at SAB Miller where he worked across a number of roles in Finance.

Sixt CEO appointed to the board of the FAI
Catherine Guy, who was appointed late last year as CEO of Autolease Fleet Management which trades under the Sixt Leasing brand in Ireland, has been appointed to the board of the Football Association of Ireland as an Independent Non-Executive Director.  Ms Guy is a former Managing Partner at law firm, ByrneWallace.  She worked at ByrneWallace for 21 years.

Elkstone Partners appoints new Investment Director
Investment and Wealth Management firm, Elkstone, has appointed former KPMG executive Tanner O’Connell as Investment Director in Ireland.  Mr O’Connell is a Chartered Accountant and a commerce graduate of UCD.

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.

Based in Co. Tyrone, Lowry Building & Civil Engineering Limited is a leading medium-sized contractor in Northern Ireland. The company’s model focuses on core services which include Building, Civil Engineering, Facilities Management and Demolition with experience in sectors such as Education, Healthcare, Commercial, Leisure and Tourism, Community, Industrial and Utilities. In its most recent financial year, the company saw revenue increase by 27.6% to c. £25.6m while EBITDA increased by 15.5% to c. £1.6m. The company employed an average of 49 people during the year at a cost of c. £1.6m. There was a net cash decrease of c. £57k in FY19 after significant working capital movements, most notably a c. £1.2m increase in debtors, as well as c. £361k invested in tangible fixed assets and c. £129k spent on the purchase of new investment properties. The company also received proceeds of c. £402k from the sale of fixed assets, leaving cash on the balance sheet at c. £1.8m against a debt balance of c. £229k. Net assets were up 42.4% to c. £4.3m. The company is 100% owned by Helen Lowry.

John Casey Limited which operates as Caseys Furniture is a furniture retailer with stores in Cork and Limerick.  The business was founded by John Casey in Cork in 1921 and two generations later is still run successfully by John’s grandsons David and Peter. For the financial year ending January 2019, the business saw revenue increase by 8.4% to c. €15.3m while EBITDA increased by 6.9% to c. €1.6m. After a sale of a company owned premises worth c. €2.5m, the business was able to realise a net increase in cash of c. €2.0m. The most significant draws on cash during the year were a payment to the parent company of c. €1.0m and c. €356k used to purchase a range of fixed assets. At year end, the business had net assets of c. €9.4m.
Cooksgrove Limited, which trades as Euro Farm Foods, is a Meath-based beef processor that was established in 2001 and services the domestic and export markets. Although revenue declined slightly by c. 1% to c. €86.4m in FY18, EBITDA grew by c. 63% to c. €1.6m. The main contributing factor to the EBITDA growth was a one percentage point increase in gross margins to 5.5%. Euro Farms generates roughly 49% of its sales in Ireland with the other 51% mainly coming from exports into Europe. The company employed 180 staff during the year at a cost of c. €5.5m, up from 162 staff at a cost of c. €5.0m a year earlier. The asset-intensive nature of the business is evident from the balance sheet and cashflow statement which shows a cumulative capital expenditure spend of c. €2.5m against a cumulative depreciation charge of €1.7m for the last two fiscal periods. At the end of FY18 the company had c. €10.1m in debt outstanding (excl. Directors loans of €770k) against a closing cash balance of c. €600k. Euro Farm Foods is owned equally by Michael and Agnes Fox.

RECENT FUNDRAISINGS

Who: A Cork-based technology start-up TeachKloud, that has developed a platform for early childcare providers, has completed a funding round and is seeking to raise more.

What: The €750,000 investment was led by Dublin-based Frontline Ventures via the AIB Discovery Fund. Other backers include Enterprise Ireland, the Irish educational publisher Folens and edtech entrepreneur and investor Sean Tai. It is hoping to raise up to €4m more in 2020.

Why: TeachKloud intends to use the funding to hire extra staff in product development and marketing as it prepares to launch in Britain and further afield.

Source: Irish Times

Who: PMD SOLUTIONS, A medical device company based in Cork, has raised funding.

What: €1.4m is backed by several angel investors. It recently also received investment under EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Why: This investment will be used for expansion to the Middle East market and for recruiting engineering and sales and marketing personnel.

Source: Fora

Who: NI employment initiative Let’s Work has received investment.

What: Just under £1.7m (€2m) is provided by Northern Ireland Executive’s Social Investment Fund.

Why: The programme aims to increase employment in areas of need. It aims to engage with up to 160 participants from socially disadvantaged areas such as Larne, Ballymena, Cookstown, Moyle, Ballymoney and Carrickfergus.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

Who: CorkBioHub, a new research and development life sciences facility, has been granted funding.

What: €3m is afforded through Enterprise Ireland Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF).

Why: The funding will act as a catalytic enabler to the success of the CorkBioHub in supporting the growth of the indigenous biology-based start-up sector in Cork.

Source: Irish Independent

Who: Irish health and safety compliance technology company Effective Software has competed a new funding round.

What: €1.3m backing comes from Elkstone and a few significant private investors as well as from an existing investor ACT Venture Capital.

Why: The company is planning an ambitious global expansion and is also rebranding as Engage EHS.

Source: Irish Times

Who: A renewable energy consultancy start-up BrightWind, a UCD spin-in platform founded in 2015, has raised funding.

What: €162,000 is backed by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The company was one of 50 projects backed as part of an €11m fund announced by the Government at the end of December 2019.

Why: The purpose of the funding is to develop a new wind and solar resource data management platform and to support BrightWind in building an open-source data analysis Python library to enable industry cooperation and research activities through easy access of wind and solar data.

Source: Silicon Republic

Who: Tigers Childcare, an Irish creche and after-school care business with 13 centres across Dublin and Meath, founded and led by Karen Clince, has secured funding.

What: €5m capital and support is being provided by DunPort.

Why: The funding is to support expansion in Ireland and into the UK with its first overseas facility due to open in London in February.

Source: Irish Times

Who: Capital Flow, an Irish non-bank lender run by CEO Ronan Horgan that provides finance to businesses for invoice discounting, asset finance and commercial property finance.

What: Capital Flow has partnered with the Strategic Bank Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) to provide €50m in new lower-cost funding to Irish SMEs. Eligible borrowers will be able to borrow between €10,000 and €1m. The new lending, which is available immediately, will be offered for the financing of new and used equipment and machinery and vehicles.

Why: SBCI does not lend directly to businesses itself but rather partners with established lending organisations to deploy its capital into the Irish market. Its partnership with Capital Flow is its 10th on-lending partnership in Ireland.

Source: Sunday Independent

Thought for the Week

While many may have good cause to think, based on various graphs and various behaviours, that we are ‘near the top’ again, a presentation by Davy’s Conall MacCoille reminded us during the week about the healthy state of household and corporate balance sheets. If we compare December 2006 with November 2019, the sum of household and corporate deposits versus outstanding debt has gone from 45.4% to 128.8%.
As well as that, our main retail banks have almost parity on deposits to loans (see below)

Even if we are ‘near the top’, the state of our consolidated personal, corporate and pillar banks’ balance sheets surely leave us much more protected.

@RenatusCapital Tweets

6.5%

The year-on-year decline in the total number of new private cars licensed in 2019, with c. 113,305 new cars licensed for the first time last year, according to the @CSOIreland
@examinerbiz

2.85%

The year-on-year increase in the spend on groceries in the Irish supermarkets for 2019, increasing from €10.89bn to €11.2bn, according to Kantar research  @irishexaminer

1.3%

The year-on-year increase in the consumer price index for December 2019 with the most notable changes in Education sector rising by 4.1%, according to @CSOIreland

3.5% & 1.9%

The year-on-year decrease in the agricultural output and input price indices for November 2019, according to @CSOIreland

1.4%
The year-on-year increase in the Irish residential property prices for November 2019, according to @CSOIreland

52

The monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) index for December 2019, which measures commercial, housing and civil engineering. A reading over 50 indicates growth, according to @UlsterBank Bank @IndoBusiness

9%
The year-to-date increase in the value of Irish goods exports for the 11 months to November 2019, amounting to €140.7bn, according to @IrishTimesBiz

2.7%

The year-on-year decline in construction output in NI for Q3 2019, according to the NI Statistics & Research Agency. @BelTel

ABOUT RENATUS

Renatus was established in 2014 by Mark Flood and Brendan Traynor 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 of €5m and above. Our typical solutions include:
  • Succession Planning
  • Management Buyouts / Buy-Ins
  • Funding for organic growth
  • Acquisition Funding; and
  • Share Sales
Management Partners
Business Owners

OUR INVESTMENTS

LEARN MORE…

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.

Visit the Knowledge Centre

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    • 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.
    Bronagh Kearns Renatus

    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.
    Patrick Dooley Renatus

    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.