Renatus Weekly M&A & Company Performance Private Equity Newsletter 26/09/2021

Deal Details: Ambipar Group, a Brazil-headquartered provider of environmental management products and services, has acquired Lehane Environmental for an undisclosed sum.

Lehane, founded in 1976, based in Dublin and Cork, is an expert in environmental emergency and industrial services.

Following the deal, Lehane will become Ambipar Response, which has the strategic management and structure of the Ambipar Group to drive its growth in the European market.

Ambipar Group, established in 1995, operates in 18 countries and 300 bases.  It is featured, certified and awarded in numerous projects, Ambipar Group participates and collaborates with important enterprises linked to socio-economic development in Brazil and in the world.

Advisers: Gavin O’Flaherty of Eversheds Sutherland provided legal advice to Lehane Environmental and Katherine Byrne of BDO provided corporate finance advice.

Renatus Comment: Lehane Environmental, a nominee for this year’s Cork Large Company of the Year Award, was 100% owned by Martin Lehane. Martin himself is also nominated for Cork Business Person of the Year Award. Martin will make a full exit from the business, with Ambipar reported to be acquiring 100% of the company. In its most recently published accounts, Dec 2019, Lehane had reserves of c. €5.8m.

Source: Ambipar Press Release

Deal Details: Corrib Oil, a Co Mayo-based service station and oil distribution company, has agreed to acquire H2 Group for an undisclosed sum.

Corrib Oil, founded in Claremorris in 1987 and led by CEO Eugene Dalton, operates two divisions, Corrib Retail and Corrib Distribution. Following the deal Corrib Oil will operate 54 sites in 16 counties employing over 1,000 people.

Kerry-based H2 Group was founded in 2004 and operates 13 retail sites, 11 service stations and one convenience stores. The group is led by co-founder and managing director Sean Heaphy, who will join Corrib Oil as a director. In its latest accounts, to Dec 19, the group reported consolidated revenues of €57.4m and EBITDA of €2.6m.

Advisers:
Corrib Oil:
Corporate Finance – Capnua team led by Eamonn Hayes
Legal – Philip Lee

H2 Group:
Corporate Finance – Deloitte team of Ronan Murray, Derek Murphy and Mike Sheehan and PSC team led Neal Peevers and Francis Moriarty.
Legal – CDS Tax and Law team of Michael Stack (property) Aoife Garrett and Maria Victory (commercial).
Renatus Comment: Corrib, traditionally more focused in the west of Ireland, will expand its national service station footprint with this acquisition. Its existing scale, along with its distribution business should bring beneficial economies to the acquired H2 Groups stations.

Source: Corrib Oil

Deal Details: Deanspoint Insurance Brokers (t/a Abbey Murphy Insurance) is acquired by Aston Lark for an undisclosed sum.

Aston Lark Ireland, a Goldman Sachs backed insurance broker, was formed in 2018 after the merger of Aston Scott and Lark Group. The business currently employs 1,500 people throughout the UK and Ireland.

Abbey Murphy Insurance is an Irish independent insurance broker with clients situated mainly around the midlands.  Abbey Murphy’s 17 employees will remain on after the deal.

Advisors: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: Another week, another insurance broker deal. This is our sixth time this year to report an acquisition by Aston Lark, who is on a clear mission to expand having picked up multiple insurance brokers throughout the Irish market since being backed by Goldman Sachs. This deal to acquire Abbey Murphy will expand their presence in the midlands and geographical footprint, a potential key to future success in the Irish insurance space.

Source: Independent, Aston Lark, Insurance Time

Deal Details: KCR Builders Providers has been acquired by Clondalkin Building Providers for an undisclosed sum.

KCR, founded in 1989 and based in Dublin, is a family owned and a family run provider of building supplies. The business was 100% owned by its Managing Director David Gavin.

Also based in Dublin, Clondalkin Builders Providers, similarly to KCR, is a builders supplies’ provider. It has been operating for the last 35 years and is recognized as one of the area’s most experienced providers.

Advisers: Philip Daly (corporate) led the LK Shields team with assistance from Elaine O’Connor (property) and James Green (corporate) for the owner of KCR Builders Providers.

Billy Brophy corporate partner at Clark Hill acted for the purchaser.

Renatus Comment: This deal follows a similar deal in the space from June where Murdocks Builders Merchants acquired Brooks Group. Clondalkin Builders Providers parent company, Fosglow, is owned by Alan Hegarty, Emma Maye and an Isle of Man controlled party. Fosglow group has other interests in builders providers, owning builders providers in Blackrock, and Newtown. It had owned Basta Locks before selling it to construction materials group Laydex Building Solutions for €1m in Dec 2020. Reported group revenue to Dec 2019 was c. €23.5m.

Source: LinkedIn

Deal Details: Boutique asset manager Ballybunion Capital has been acquired by professional services provider, JTC. The initial consideration will be in the form of cash and JTC equity with deferred consideration dependant on the achievement of performance targets in the coming years. The exact figures of the deal were not disclosed.

Dublin-based Ballybunion Capital is a boutique asset manager focused exclusively on investment funds, dealing with both traditional and alternative asset classes. The business was owned 100% by Managing Director Patrick O’Sullivan.

JTC group, a professional services group based in Jersey, is a FTSE-250 firm with a market capitalisation of just over £1bn (€1.2bn). It generated revenue of £115m (€134m) last year and net income of £10.5m.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: This deal follows JTC’s acquisition of the Irish funds services business INDOS in February this year. The deal will further deepen JTC’s offering for Irish domiciled funds. Ballybunion Capital generated turnover of over €1.8m in the financial year that ended in June 2020, and a reported €449,000 profit after tax.

Source: Irish Independent

Deal Details: Irish childcare provider Park Academy has been acquired by UK-based Busy Bees for an undisclosed sum.

Park Academy Childcare was founded in Dublin in 1995 and has since grown to eight facilities, providing services throughout South Dublin and North Wicklow.

Busy Bees is a global childcare services brand with 650 childcare providers throughout Ireland, UK, USA, Italy, Australia, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia.

Advisers: A ReganWall team comprising of Adrian Wall (partner) and Sarah Connolly (associate) acted on the sell-side.

Gavin McGuire, a long-time strategic adviser provided strategic corporate finance advice to Park Academy along the journey and not just for the transaction and managed all professional advisers to the vendor.
Fincas Limited provided financial DD advice and support on the transaction.

The buyer was represented by Gavin O’Flaherty and his team at Eversheds Sutherland.

Renatus Comment: This is one of two creche deals included in this week’s newsletter and the news of these acquisitions came just as various bodies such as the CSI (Child Services Ireland) began putting increased pressure on the Irish government to improve the affordability of childcare. The shortage of spaces and high cost of childcare for working parents is a real issue in Ireland and we expect it will get more press inches as Ireland returns to the workplace post-covid. These deals speak to private investment coming into the sector, which should open more capacity, but it feels like government support is also needed. Government policy has unlocked nursing home investment which has created a strong private sector solution to growing capacity, perhaps something similar is needed for childcare.

Source: Irish Times

Deal Details: Tigers Childcare, one of the largest childcare operators in Ireland, has acquired the Little Fairies Creche and Montessori in Tallaght for an undisclosed sum. The premises accommodates 90 children and 13 staff.

Tigers, founded in 2003 and run by Managing Director Karen Clince, has a presence in both Ireland and the UK. It operates 12 centres in Dublin, with one in London with a total capacity of 2,000 children and 183 staff.

Prior to the transaction, founder Áine Byrne was the sole shareholder of Little Fairies Creche & Montessori. The deal will see Tigers retain all staff at Little Fairies.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: See above.

Source: Irish Times

Deal Details: Shard Capital, a London-based wealth management firm, has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Dublin-based investment technology firm Omnium. The deal is subject to Central Bank approval and no transaction details were disclosed.

Dublin-based Omnium was founded in 2004 by investors and is also backed by Enterprise Ireland. It supplies technology to investment advisors and wealth managers to help them manage portfolios and execute trades on a single platform. The business is led by CEO Christopher Ovenden.

Advisers: LK Shields corporate team advised Shard Capital, led by Richard Curran with Trevor Dolan.

Renatus Comment: With the covid era accelerating companies’ digital migration, Omnium is well placed to capitalise on increased demand for technology services in investment management. Chief Executive, Chirstopher Ovenden, has said that demand has increased dramatically during the last year, with five years of a digital shift being squeezed into one. The deal sees Onmium capitalise on Brexit regulations, with Shard seeing the deal as an avenue to expand their service offering into the EU.

Source: Shard Capital, Irish Times

Deal Details: The Irish competition watchdog CCPC has been notified of the proposed acquisition of Nalac Ltd, the company behind Business Plus and BizPlus.ie titles by DMG Media Ireland.
DMG Media Ireland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust Plc (“DMGT”).

It operates a number of businesses in Ireland which involve the publication of localised Irish newspapers Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as well as digital titles Evoke.ie, Extra.ie, Rollercoaster.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: According to its website, Business Plus, which commenced publishing in Dublin in February 1998, is Ireland’s largest circulation monthly business magazine. The publication was founded by former young journalist of the year Sandra O’Connell and Nick Mulcahy. The latest accounts filed for the business, Dec 2019, show it had accumulated profits of c. €582k.

Source: Irish Independent

Deal Details: Tyco International Holding S.a.r.l., a holding company of Johnson Controls International plc, has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of Airflow Services. The deal is awaiting CCPC approval.

Johnson Controls International, headquartered in Cork, produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. Airflow, also headquartered in Cork and found in 1996 by Denis and Marina Moynihan, specialise in heating, ventilation and air-Conditioning for both the commercial and industrial domestic markets.

Advisers: None mentioned.

Renatus Comment: While Johnson Controls already has a Cork base, this acquisition will immediately expand its capabilities and customer base in Ireland.  In its Dec 2019, Airflow Services reported an increase in net assets of €.04m to €1.6 million. The company finished the year with €5.9 million in net assets, of which nearly €3.9m million was in cash.

Source: CCPC, The Currency