Twelve months ago, in the midst of the COVID crisis and the first lock-down, we were triaging our corporate finance clients into those that needed acute assistance such as emergency funding, a minority where the original transaction and proposed timing remained viable but a majority where it was necessary to pause until the acquisition/investment proposition could be re-assessed and demonstrated in a (post) COVID environment.
HMT LLP has advised Hanmere Polythene Ltd, a portfolio company of UK private equity group Chiltern Capital ,on their acquisition of Finnish plastic packaging solutions provider, Amerplast.
Although transactional volumes dropped, particularly in the first lockdown; it is striking how quickly M&A strategies and exit aspirations have reasserted themselves and how determinedly vendors and acquirers have set about implementing their plans or taking advantage of new opportunities, notwithstanding the continued and material uncertainty surrounding them.
HMT LLP advised connectivity and cloud-based software provider, Gradwell Communications, on their acquisition of Technology Solutions Group Limited, trading as The Technology Group.
HMT LLP acted as lead advisors to the shareholders of leading independent B2B agency The Marketing Practice on their investment from Horizon Capital.
HMT LLP advised Chiltern Capital backed by Keyhaven Capital, on their investment into leading vehicle body repair provider, Steer Automotive Group.
At HMT our Partners are often asked “when is the right time” to sell a business, and in general our stock response is that it is relatively easy to conclude when is the wrong time to sell, but one can only tell if the timing of an exit was “right” with the benefit of hindsight. Almost more than anything else vendors fear getting their timing wrong, being taken advantage of, and ending up with “sellers’ regret”.
HMT Partner Wendy Hart recently hosted a webinar to reflect on how business value drivers might have changed in light of both COVID-19 and Brexit.
HMT LLP advised leading provider of enterprise software applications and digital operating technology Sapphire Systems on their acquisition of SAP Business ByDesign partner InCloud Solutions.
HMT LLP advised Ethos Partners on their investment in compliance consultancy and regtech services provider, Compliance Services.
