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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.
Thanks to those who supported our Shine A Light fundraiser for Focus Ireland. Ourselves and our Real Deal partners Fitzgerald Power and Bank of Ireland raised just under €16k on our fundraising page. A very worthwhile cause so thank you again.
Deal Details: Trevor Wright and Niall Jones have led a Management Buy Out (“MBO”) of Meath based refrigeration services company Anglo Irish Refrigeration Services and its NI based sister company, Portglenone Refrigeration Services.
Anglo Irish Refrigeration is one of the leading suppliers of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment to the wholesale and retail food sectors in Ireland.
The holding company of Anglo and Portglenone, Property Options Limited, had revenue of c. €19.5m and EBITDA of c. €1.1m in FY18.
Advisers: The MBO team was advised by Paul O’Donovan & Associates Chartered Accountants (financial) and ReganWall, Business Law Firm (legal).
Renatus Comment: A classic Management Buyout (MBO) case where a management team who have led the company for a number of years are acquiring from the original owners. We expected to see more of these in recent years but given that they have not happened we expect even more in the years ahead. Shareholders who do not have family need to move on and the incumbent management team are the ready-made buyers in such situations.
Source: Paul O’Donovan & Associates Chartered Accountants
Deal Details: Eirtech Aviation Services has been acquired by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Vance Street Capital for an undisclosed sum. Eirtech founders Niall Cunningham and Gerry O’Shea are reported to be retaining a “material ownership position in the company”.
Eirtech Aviation is a Shannon-based provider of bespoke engineering services, composite repair services and asset management solutions for international airlines, private operators and aircraft leasing companies. The business is led by CEO Niall Cunningham and had revenue of c. €16.7m and EBITDA of c. €2.6m in FY17.
As part of the deal, Eirtech Aviation will join Vance Street Capital’s US-based portfolio companies Leading Edge Aviation Services Inc. and Associated Painters Inc. to form a new group, Aerospace Coatings Holdings LP.
Advisers: None mentioned
Renatus Comment: Having written about MAAS aviation in recent weeks who paint planes, this MRO business is yet another great SME on the aviation value chain. We are privileged to be involved as an investor in Simtech, in the pilot training space. It is amazing the amount of downstream activity Ireland enjoys in the space.
Source: Business & Finance
Deal Details: Bamford Bus Company has acquired the business and assets of Wrights Group Limited, Wrightbus Limited, Wright En-Drive Limited and Metallix Limited. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
Wrights group of companies went into administration last month with the loss of 1,200 jobs, bringing to an end 73 years of ownership by the Wright family. It’s unclear how many of the 1,200 jobs will be saved under the new deal.
Bamford Bus Company already had a contract to work with Wrightbus on a deal to convert London buses to hydrogen fuel.
In a separate deal Wright Composites Limited is to be purchased by Jans Composites for an undisclosed sum.
Advisers: Chris Guy of Mills Selig and PwC’s Deals team acted as advisors for Jo Bamford on the acquisition.
Comment: Jo Bamford did not have the luxury of waiting for Brexit certainty. It is a good vote of confidence that he went ahead with this clearly assuming Brexit will not affect his investment.
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Deal Details: Private equity fund MML Growth Capital Partners is reported to have invested into RelateCare, a healthcare communications consultancy and outsourcing company. It is speculated in the press that the investment could be up to €12m as per the attached article.
RelateCare, founded in 2014, is headquartered in Waterford, led by CEO Conor O’Byrne and is reported to be on track to achieve €21.5m in turnover this year.
RelateCare provides a range of patient access consultancy and outsourcing solutions to hospitals and health systems aiming to improve their communication with patients. The investment is being used to support its continued expansion into the North American market.
The business was originally formed via a joint venture between the RigneyDolphin Group and the Cleveland Clinic.
Advisers: Mazar’s Corporate Finance, led by John Bowe, acted for RelateCare on the transaction.
Renatus Comment: Telehealth is an interesting and growing space as digital solutions continue to penetrate the healthcare industry – industry reports cite an expected industry-wide growth rate of 14% per annum for the next few years. They offer an increasingly popular lower-cost alternative to traditional clinical care, facilitating virtual solutions, constant relationships between patients and caregivers as well as providing a continuous stream of real-time patient health data. A key hurdle to overcome is/will be tightly-budgeted hospitals’ and clinics ability to afford these solutions.
Source: Irish Independent
Deal details: Publishing group Iconic Newspapers is in advanced talks to acquire the Munster Express weekly paper in Waterford. It currently owns about 20 Irish regional newspapers including the Limerick Leader.
Iconic recently received approval from CCPC to buy the Midland Tribune and Tullamore Tribune titles.
Munster Express, which serves Waterford city as well as parts of Kilkenny and Tipperary, is currently owned by the wider Walsh family.
Its latest accounts, for 2018, show a near €100,000 deficit in its balance sheet, accumulated losses of €850,000 and short-term bank debts of €540,000. It employed an average of 13 staff last year.
Source: Irish Times
Deal details: The Payzone acquisition by AIB and US firm First Data from Carlyle Cardinal Ireland has been given the regulatory approval in a deal worth an estimated €100 million.
Payzone is the largest consumer payments network in the Republic, with more than 7,000 retail agents and more than 300,000 registered users.
Under the deal, AIB will own a 75 per cent stake in the joint venture with First Data taking the remaining 25 per cent.
Source: Irish Times
Deal details: During the week, it was reported, that a consortium of private investors led by original founders, Pat and Michael Fitzgerald, have completed the buyback of the majority stake in Abtran that was sold to Carlyle Cardinal Ireland back in 2015.
Abtran is one of Ireland’s largest providers of customer and business process management services, employing over 1,600 staff with contracts including the Irish Water call centre and processing property tax for Revenue.
Source: Irish Times
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 details of key recent executive and board level appointments
Fidelity names new Irish General Manager
Fidelity Investments, the Boston-based financial services firm, has appointed Al Riviezzo as the general manager of its Irish operations. Mr Riviezzo, who has spent more than 20 years working for the company, will lead the 1,000-plus employees in Dublin and Galway in delivering technology, operations, and support services to the US business. He comes to Ireland from Westlake, Texas, where he had held the role of senior vice-president since 2005, leading sales and service delivery teams for Fidelity’s Personal and Workplace business.
BLM appoints three new partners in Dublin
Three new partners have joined BLM in Dublin in the firm’s largest round of partner promotions since it established its office in 2012. Sinead Connolly, Olivia Treston and Garrett Cormican span all business streams across the firm’s Dublin office, which now employs over 40 people. The firm’s Ireland team specialises in cases dealing with insurance fraud, catastrophic injury, health and safety, employers’ and public liability, motor, product liability and professional and medical negligence.
Calor Ireland appoints new chief executive
Duncan Osborne is the new chief executive of Calor Ireland, which supplies and distributes Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) across Ireland. Mr Duncan was the CEO of SHV Energy’s Primagaz business in Scandinavia from 2016 to 2019. He was previously MD of PrimaLNG, part of the SHV Energy Group, and has extensive experience in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) market across Europe.
HPE Ireland appoints Maeve Culloty as managing director
HPE Ireland has appointed a new managing director, with Maeve Culloty stepping into the role. Ms Culloty began working with HPE Financial Services in 2007, and is currently director of EMEA business development and marketing. Prior to that, she worked in senior audit and compliance roles in firms such as KPMG and State Street. She will take up the newly created managing director for HPE Ireland role from November 1st, leading a team of more than 600 staff in sites across Leixlip, Galway, Cork and Belfast.
McCann FitzGerald names first chairperson
McCann FitzGerald has appointed Catherine Deane as its first chairperson. Ms Deane is an aviation finance expert, with more than 25 years’ experience of advising on and acting for the world’s largest aircraft lessors and financiers. She has been a partner at the law firm since 1992. Ms Deane will begin the four-year term next month.
Coillte appoints new chief executive
Forestery company Coillte has appointed Imelda Hurley as its new CEO, effective from November 4. Ms Hurley, who replaces Fergal Leamy, is currently a non-executive director of Total Produce. She also serves on the audit and risk committee of the University of Limerick. Gerry Britchfield, chief operations officer and chief financial officer at the semi-State group, had been acting as CEO since April. Ms Hurley’s most recent commercial role was that of chief financial officer of Origin Enterprises, which she held from 2014 up until 2018. Prior to that, she was based in Asia-Pacific, where she was chief financial officer and head of sustainability for PCH International, a global supply chain management business.
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 Cork, Dornan Engineering Limited is an international mechanical, electrical and instrumentation services company with 7 offices in 5 different countries, allowing the company to service its growing client base across Northern Europe. In FY18, the company saw both revenue and EBITDA rise by an incredible 71.6% and 166.4% respectively. Revenue increased to c. €374.7m while EBITDA increased to c. €13.9m. The large jump in EBITDA was due to the increase in gross margins as well as a decrease in admin expenses relative to revenue. The company employed an average of 861 people in the year at a cost of c. €75.6m. There was a net cash increase of c. €30.5m bringing the total cash balance for the year up to c. €40.9m. Growth in cash was largely attributable to significant working capital movements, freeing up c. €19.2m in cash. The company also invested c. €600k in the purchase of fixed assets (c. €168k on furniture and equipment, c. €195k on motor vehicles, and c. €237k on leased assets). Net assets stood at c. €51.5m, up from c. €42.7m the previous year. The company is majority owned by CEO Brian Acheson, with Oliver Lonergan owning 13% and David Myers 4%.
Established in 1988 by John B O’Hagan, Specialist Joinery Group is a Northern Irish-based manufacturer of bespoke joinery and fitted furniture. The Group operates out of a 80,000 sq. ft. facility in Coleraine and employed an average of 137 people during the year. FY19 was a good year for the business as revenue increased by 18.7% to c. €22.8m while EBITDA increased by 109.9% to c. €2.2m. The EBITDA growth was due to gross margins growing from 21.5% to 23.0% over the year. The Group was able to convert almost of all its EBITDA to cash. Specialist Joinery Group is still wholly owned by John B O’Hagan and it has been stated that it expect’s revenue to exceed c. €24m in FY20.
The Gresham Hotel Company Limited, which trades as the Gresham hotel, is a 4-star 323-bed hotel that is located on O’Connell Street in Dublin city centre. FY18 was a strong year which saw double-digit increases in both turnover and EBITDA to €20.3m (up 15% year-on-year) and €7.4m (up 17% year-on-year), respectively. Roughly 79% of the hotel’s sales come from the provision of rooms with the majority of the balance coming from bar and food sales. The hotel employs 163 staff (flat year-on-year) at an annual cost of c. €6m (up c.5% year-on-year). During the year, cash decreased by c. €1.8m to €1.2m, the result of c. €1.6m of capital expenditure and a €7m dividend payment to its owners. The company is part of the Riu Group, who paid a reported €92m in 2016 to acquire it from NAMA.
Who: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) announces funding through its Research Infrastructure Programme as part of the Government’s Future Jobs Ireland initiative.
What: €25m will be distributed between six projects at Maynooth University, Trinity College Dublin, Tyndall National Institute, Marine Institute and University College Dublin.
Why: The purpose of the funds is to support new research infrastructure, ranging from self-driving vehicles, to ocean observation
Source: Irish Examiner
Who: NUI Galway spinout firm AtriAN Medical has secured seed funding.
What: €2.3m seed investment was led by the Western Development Commission and includes Mayo Clinic Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, Atlantic Bridge and Xenium Capital as well as private angel investors with strong medtech portfolios.
Why: The funding is to finance its clinical trials of a new device developed in partnership with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, USA.
Source: Irish Independent
Who: An Post, the state-owned postal services company.
What: The company has agreed terms for a €40m 10-year loan which comes from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Why: The money will be used for automating its parcel business and for replacing a third of its diesel fleet with electric vehicles. This is part of a wider €82m modernisation drive over the coming three years.
Source: Irish Independent
Who: VitHit the low calorie Irish drinks company led by founder Gavin Lavin.
What: The company is reported to secured over €1m in funding. VitHit were advised by AIB Corporate Finance.
Why: The funds are being used to (1) ramp up its international expansion, (2) add five more staff members to its existing 22-person team and (3) to roll out a range of new products next year.
Source: Sunday Business Post
Who: Tines, a cyber-security company which was founded in 2018 by Eoin Hinchy. The company’s technology automates repetitive tasks involved in handling security threats.
What: The company has raised €3.6m in venture capital funding. The named backers include London-based Blossom Capital and Tacito Partners.
Why: The company plans to use the funds to hire software engineers and build its sales team.
Source: Sunday Times
Instead of ‘Thought for the Week’, we are bringing you a weekly tracker using odds from oddschecker and taking off bookmakers margin to come up with deemed percentage probability of outcomes.
The current markets read as follows:
Some Sort of Brexit:
By December ’19 32% (50% last week)
H1 2020 47% (25% last week)
H2 2020/2021 5% (from 11%)
Not before 2022 16% (from 14% last week )
——————————————————————————————
If you are not in agreement with any of above you can get the odds here and back your opinion: Oddschecker – Brexit
3.3%
The year-on-year increase in spending across all supermarkets and grocers in the 12 week period to October 6 2019 amounting to €2.52b, according to Kantar survey. @irishexaminer
4%
1.7%
The year-on-year fall in the Manufacturing Industries Output Price Index for September 2019, according to @CSOIreland
6%
The year-on-year increase in the passenger numbers in Irish airports amounting to 36.6m passengers in 2018, meanwhile the passenger numbers through Irish Ports were down by 2.7% to 2.7m, according to @CSOIreland
4.6%
The year-on-year fall in new private car registrations in 2018 amounting to 121,157 cars, according to @CSOIreland
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