A summer of sunshine, sales and acquisitions

It has been a scorching summer for Thomson Snell & Passmore’s Corporate team and not just because of the weather. The volume of transactions has taken an upturn over the summer months after a cooler start to the calendar year. Businesses seemingly holding their breath up until 31 March and then collectively breathing a sigh of relief before getting on with business as usual over the summer. In this month’s newsletter, we’re highlighting some of the diverse range of deals completed over the last few months.

The mercury started rising in May when we advised an established construction group on its acquisition of the shares in a Kent-based construction company. In June, we advised on the sale of Henley Bridge Ingredients to HMS, the parent company of Kent-based ingredient distributors: Kent Foods, BFP and Garrett Ingredients. We worked closely with the shareholders of HBI to ensure their hard work building up their business was rewarded.

July was a busy period for acquisitions with the team completing five transactions. We acted for a plc in relation to its acquisition of a financial planning and investment services business, as well as advising on further acquisitions in the construction sector and a fresh produce storage and distribution business. We also advised an existing client, who is a large automotive sector client, on a further double dealership acquisition In Kent as part of its ongoing growth strategy. Capping off this busy month, we completed a major group re-organisation for one of our London-based construction clients.

As we entered the month of August, we advised the shareholders of Iphelion Limited, a UK-based template management company, on the sale of their shares to leading provider of digital dictation software, Bighand Limited.

Shortly after, we completed the sale of KH Engineering Services, a family business grown over nearly two decades into a multi-million pound turnover company and one of the UK’s leading providers of mechanical and electrical engineering for the rail and transport sector. We helped both the majority shareholders with their full exit from the business, as well as the minority shareholders and management team with the sale of their shares and continuing relationship with the new owners, M Group Services.

As we race into September, the days are now starting to shorten and the temperature is dropping; however, we are optimistic that the interest in doing deals isn’t going to cool too. Whilst businesses are exercising caution in terms of cross border trade, there is still a large domestic market where, despite the current uncertainty, business must go on.