Navy-Blue-Logotype-1Navy-Blue-Logotype-1Navy-Blue-Logotype-1Navy-Blue-Logotype-1
  • Business Owners
  • Management Partners
  • Team
  • Portfolio
    • Boojum
    • Simtech
    • Rennicks
    • CRS
    • Kappture
    • Allied Imports Group
    • AQF Medical
    • Irish Rollforming
    • Herdwatch
  • Newsletter
    • Podcast
    • The Real Deal
  • Careers
  • Contact
Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter – 19/01/2020
January 19, 2020
Renatus’ Weekly M&A Newsletter – 02/02/2020
February 2, 2020
January 26, 2020

Mincon acquires Finnish business, LifeSignals merges with Renew Health Limited, Cordovan Capital Partners invests in Decorum Vending Limited, ABP acquires John Pointon and Sons 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

Mincon acquires Finnish business

Deal Details: Mincon, the Irish engineering group, has acquired Finnish Lehti Group Oy for €8m.

Mincon was established by Patrick Purcell in 1977. It specialises in the design, manufacture, sale and servicing of rock drilling tools and associated products. Mincon currently has production sites in Ireland, UK, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and now in Finland.

Advisers: Davy Corporate Finance  (Anthony Farrell and Daragh O’Reilly) acted for Mincon as Nominated Adviser and Euronext Growth Advisor.

Renatus Comment: This further deepens Mincon’s positioning in the attractive geotechnical market following its acquisition of PPV Oy in 2017, which became a key part of engineering hub, Mincon Nordic, focusing on accessing the geotechnical / construction markets.

Source: Mincon Group

LifeSignals merges with Renew Health Limited

Deal Details: LifeSignals Inc. announced its merger with the connected health portfolio of Renew Health Limited to form LifeSignals Group Inc.

LifeSignals (formerly HMicro Inc.) is a venture capital-backed company headquartered in Silicon Valley. Its is a global leader in the field of wireless biosensor technology through the Life Signal™ Processor silicon platform.

Renew Health Limited, a European division of the global Renew Group, was established in 2014 in Ireland. Based in the IDA business park in Garrycastle in Athlone, Ireland. Its portfolio of products includes, BioGlo™ ophthalmic strips, Diagnostic Green’s Indocyanine Green for Injection USP/VERDYE and IC-Flow™ Imaging System.

The LifeSignals Group will incorporate the LifeSignals Inc. business, and its Bangalore based subsidiary, LifeSignals (India) Private Limited. From Renew, LGI has acquired the UltraLinq cloud-based cardiology PACS platform business and the Zensor™+ cardiac analytics software business.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: These companies are both operating in an interesting market, with both feeding into connected health assets market. Real-time detailed health data facilitates both higher quality care (a more comprehensive data set allows for better treatment consideration) and a reduction in healthcare costs (reduces the need for unnecessary tests). The real-time aspect is particularly interesting as a delay in collection of data from a health-related event can lead to the data being more general in nature as opposed to being specific to the health-related event.

Source: LifeSignals

Cordovan Capital Partners invests in Decorum Vending Limited

Deal Details: Cordovan Capital Partners, a Belfast-based private equity firm, has completed an equity investment into Decorum Vending Limited. As part of the transaction, Cordovan have taken a significant minority stake in the business.

Based in Dorset in England, Decorum specialises in providing vending solutions across the UK and is led by Managing Director Declan Swell.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: This investment brings Cordovan’s total number of investee companies to nine and is their first investment in Great Britain.

Source: Cordovan Capital Press Release

ABP acquires John Pointon and Sons

Deal Details: ABP Food Group’s by-product division, Advanced Protein,  has acquired John Pointon and Sons, an animal by-product and proteins business. Consideration for the business is undisclosed.

A family-owned business in operation for over 40 years, John Pointon and Sons is the largest single site by-product and pet ingredient supplier in the UK with a capacity of 400,000 metric tonnes. The business is located in Staffordshire, England on an 80-acre site and is led by Managing Director Martin Pointon

Advisers: None mentioned.

Source: John Pointon and Sons Press Release

Fallon & Byrne Founders Bought Out by Existing Investors

Deal Details: Fiona McHugh, the former Sunday Times Ireland editor, and her husband, property developer Paul Byrne, have sold their stake in Fallon & Byrne to existing investors. Together, they were reported to have owned 45% of the restaurant and retail group. The pair opened Fallon & Byrne’s flagship store on Exchequer St. in 2006.

Existing investors, which include former Superquinn finance chief Frank Murphy and Brian Fallon, a Kildare restaurateur, are reported to have taken full control of the Group.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Source: Irish Times

Deals in the Making

Planet to be sold

Deal Details: Planet, an international payment processing platform, is reportedly to be sold by the majority stakeholder Eurazeo for c. €1.98bn. According to reports, European buyout firm Eurazeo recently hired Citigroup and Evercore to prepare the sale of the business.

Planet is a group formed in 2018 consisting of Fintrax, Planet Payment, GB TaxFree, and Premier Tax Free. The group employs more than 1,500 staff in 64 markets. It serves more than 400,000 merchants and 100 partner banks, managing in excess of 500m transactions worth more than €23bn in value.

Its partner brands include Giorgio Armani, Coach, Calvin Klein, El Corte Ingles, Gucci and Hugo Boss.

Eurazeo, founded in 2001, is a listed private equity firm with a diversified portfolio of approximately €17bn in assets under management.

Source: Irish Times

CRH’s potential buyout of Australian company 

Deal Details: It has been speculated in the papers that CRH may be linked to a potential buyout of Boral, an Australian-based construction materials company with a market cap of c. €3.7bn.

CRH already has an established presence in Australia. It’s Australian companies include Cubis Systems, a network access prducts provider Ancon, a construction accessories business and CR Laurence, a supplier into the glass and glazing industry.

Source: Sunday Independent

Deals Updates

Family’s stake in Brodericks reduced

Deal Details: The family behind Broderick’s, the confectionary business, has had its shareholding reduced to a reported 25% from 100% following two years of trading losses. The business’ investors, which include BDO Development Capital Fund and Enterprise Ireland, now hold the remaining 75% stake.

In 2017, BDO Development Capital Fund led a €6.35m investment into the business, which included Enterprise Ireland. It was written into the company’s targets and covenants that the investors would have rights over the equity in light of business losses. The accounts show losses of €1.8m and €2.3m in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Source: Sunday 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.

Lisney announces appointment of new Managing Director
Lisney, Ireland’s largest independently-owned property advisory company, has announced the appointment of David Byrne as its new Managing Director.  Mr Byrne has 20 years’ experience in the domestic and international property sector. He joined Lisney in 2001 and has specialised in the sale and acquisition of residential property in Dublin. He is taking over the role as Managing Director from Duncan Lyster who is joining Irish Life Investment Managers in a senior role in the property team in April.

New CEO for Design Partners
Design Partners, the Bray based Design and Development consultancy, has appointed Trevor O’Reilly as its new CEO to lead the firm through the next stages of the firm’s development and growth. Mr O’Reilly has substantial experience across Marketing Services, Manufacturing, BPO, and most recently Retail. Mr O’Reilly previously served as CEO at Sirio Retail Operations Ireland and as CEO at Bezier in London.  He is a former Managing Director of RR Donnelly.

Bank of Ireland appoints new Head of Food & Drinks sector
Róisín O’Shea has been appointed as Bank of Ireland’s head of food and drink sector, a newly created role. Prior to joining Bank of Ireland, she held a number of senior commercial positions in both indigenous and multinational consumer goods companies including PepsiCo, Valeo Foods, Carbery, Boyne Valley and Robert Roberts Ltd. Her most recent role was in the sports nutrition industry.

Heineken Ireland appoints new Cider Marketing Manager
Paula Conlon has been appointed as marketing manager for cider with Heineken Ireland, responsible for the Orchard Thieves and Appleman’s cider brands, both designed for the Irish market. She spent the past five years as Heineken’s customer marketing controller, involved in campaigns such as the launch of non-alcoholic beer Heineken 0.0. She previously worked for three years at Britvic Ireland as head of commercial operations. A graduate of DCU and the Smurfit School of Business, Ms Conlon has also worked in the consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser.

New M&A Partner appointed at Matheson
Matheson has announced the appointment of David Fitzgibbon as a partner in the firm’s corporate M&A team.  Mr Fitzgibbon is an experienced M&A and capital markets lawyer, having advised on many of Ireland’s largest and most notable transactions.  He specialises in corporate and securities laws and mergers and acquisitions, advising on public and private transactions as well as equity capital markets transactions and private equity.  Mr Fitzgibbon joins from William Fry where he served as Partner.

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.

Cork-based Food-Bridge Limited specialise in the importation, distribution and wholesaling of poultry meat, serving the manufacturing, foodservice, wholesale and retail sectors. In FY19, the company performed well with revenue rising by 33.9% to c. €172.0m and EBITDA increasing by 40.7% to c. €9.0m. The company employed an average of 18 staff throughout the year at a cost of c. €3.4m. Cash increased by c. €7.3m after significant working capital movements, freeing up c. €8.0m cash, as well as a c. €1.4m tax payment and a c. €8.2m share redemption during the year. Cash on the balance sheet stood at c. €5.8m with an overdraft balance of c. €2.7m leaving the company with a net cash balance of c. €3.1m. Net assets were down 3.4% during the year to c. €23.3m. The company is owned by Edward Christopher Gleeson (67.2%), David Gleeson (16.4%) and Sarah Gleeson (16.4%).

Killyhevlin Hotel Limited is a four-star hotel based in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. With views overlooking lough Erne, the Killyhevlin hotel offers hotel accommodation, lakeside lodges, an Elemis Spa, an exclusive Health Club and a top-quality restaurant. In its most recent financial year, the company saw incremental growth with turnover increasing by 1.3% to c. £7.6m while EBITDA was up 1.1% to c. £1.1m. The company employed an average of 200 people in FY19 at a cost of c. £3.1. There was a net cash increase of c. £265k after CapEx spend of c. £380k, which largely related to plant and machinery, as well as dividends paid of c. £360k. Cash on the balance sheet stood at c. £933k against a debt balance of c. £24k. Net assets were up to c. £9.0m from c. £8.6m the previous year. The company is owned by Jacqueline Wright (50%) and Heather Leigh Watson (50%).

Mulleady’s Limited is a Longford-headquartered waste service provider to domestic, commercial and industrial customers. Tunrover and EBITDA declined during FY18 by c. 4% and c. 13% to €8.1m and €1.3m, respectively. Mulleadys employs 74 staff at an annual cost of c. €2.1m across its waste and recyclables materials recovery facility in Longford and its EPA-licenced waste facility in Westmeath.  The biggest drains on cash generated during the year were (1) c. €530k of capital expenditures, (2) a dividend payout of c. €460k and (3) c. €450k in debt and interest payments. At the period end, the company had a cash balance of c. €480k against a debt balance of c. €983k. The business is owned by Elaine, Niall and Brendan Mulleady as well as Donna Geoghegan.

RECENT FUNDRAISINGS

Who: Irish smart energy company GridBeyond (formerly known as Endeco Technologies), founded in 2007 by Michael Phelan, has closed Series B financing round.

What: A €10.5m investment round was led by Energias De Portugal (EDP) with existing backers ESB and Dublin-headquartered Act Venture Capital also participating along with Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures
A ByneWallace team led by Neil Keenan with the assistance of Daniel Holohan, senior associate in corporate and Emmet Connolly and Conor Moran, solicitors in corporate provided legal support.

Why: The financing will be used towards scaling the business further and expanding into new markets.
The company also intends to double its workforce over the next three years, invest further in research and development, and expand its current offerings.

Source: Irish Times

Who: Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) has launched a new fund.

What: €1.6m has been provided by IPB Insurance and the Department of Rural and Community Development, through the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Why: The fund is to support social enterprises around the country. SIFI expects to support 16 social entrepreneurs with the money, offering grants of €10,000 to €50,000 to each organisation.

Source: RTE

Who: Irish technology company Cubic Telecom, led by Barry Napier, has raised funding.

What: Over €11m comes from a long-term backer Act Venture Capital.

Why: The purpose of the funding has not been disclosed however it is believed to be used towards expansion.

Source: Irish Times

Who: Formula One aspirant Lucca Allen has launched an investment offering to raise funding.

What: €350K is targeted through sponsorship and investment. It is looking for investors to pay €50K for a 1% share of future earnings up to €150K plus their money back. For €250K investors can get a 5% share of earnings up to a total return of €1m. Both deals will expire after 10 years. Sponsorship packages will cost from €10K a race.

Why: Lucca Allen needs the funding to pursue his racing career in Japan to race on the highly competitive Super Formula circuit.

Source: Irish Independent

Thought for the Week

We are like a broken record over the past number of years saying how punitive CGT is at 33% and how miserable the entrepreneurs relief is at €1m compared to other countries and in particular the UK.

Some manifestos published this week have pledged to reduce this. We think anyone being canvased should bring this up so the politicians know this is a real insult to entrepreneurs who sacrifice so much in the pursuit of creation and get penalised versus their international peers or their domestic peers who decide to go off-shore.

@RenatusCapital Tweets

40%

The rise in rents in the Republic of Ireland from 2007 to 2019, the second highest increase in the European Union, with overall rents rising by an average of 21% across the EU within the same period. According to
@EU_Eurostat. @IrishTimesBiz

19%

The year-on-year increase of new home completions in Ireland as of 2019 compared to 2018, accounting for 21,500 new homes. According to @Goodbody. @RTEbusiness

5.6%

The annual reduction in the average wholesale prices by Irish producers for 2019, according to @CSOIreland

3%

The Gross Value Added (GVA) contribution by Dublin Airport to the Irish economy amounting to €9.8bn, according to the study by economic consultants interVISTAS.
@irishexaminer

38.3%
The year-on-year increase in the new residential buildings under construction for December 2019, amounting to almost 15,000, according to the latest GeoView Residential Buildings Report by GeoDirectory and EY-DKM.@irishexaminer

£1.58bn

The estimated contribution from the internet sector to the Northern Irish economy, according to the Internet Association.  @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

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.

 

Subscribe to our Newsletter
Share

Ground Floor,    Harmony Court,
Dublin 2,                          D02 RH68

T: +353 | 1 5549269
E: info@renatus.ie

Business Owners
Management Partners
Team
Portfolio
Newsletter
Podcast
Knowledge Centre
Contact

© 2023 Copyright
Renatus Capital Partners.

All Rights Reserved

Privacy Policy

    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.
    TIERNAN O’HAGAN

    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.