Gambit Corporate Finance LLP has been recognised with two awards for Deal of the Month from both Midlands Insider and The Business Desk for its role in the management buyout of Acenta Steel.
Acenta is the UK’s largest independent processor and distributor of bright steel bars with turnover of £82 million in 2012.
Tarlok Singh, CEO, and Colin Mills, CFO, have led the management buyout, together with support from long-term funding partner GE Commercial Finance. Tarlok Singh said: “Having spent nearly 40 years working at Acenta Steel and its predecessors, I am absolutely delighted with the deal to take this prestigious business into private ownership.”
Explaining the thinking behind the Deal of the Month choice, TheBusinessDesk.com editor Andy Coyne said: “This is a cracking Midlands deal which is good news for everyone involved. Endless has seen a fantastic return on its investment while the management team at Acenta are now in a great position to take the company on to a different level, building on its recent successes. And the involvement of so many Midlands advisers and funders demonstrates yet again that this region can effectively be self-sufficient when it comes to dealmaking.”
Midlands Business Insidereditor Kurt Jacobs said: "While exits from management buyouts are not unusual in the current climate, the wholesale purchase of a business by its management team is – the default option is usually a trade sale to a big corporate. For a management team to get the funding for this sort of deal in the current climate is a heck of an achievement.”
As well as advising on the buy-out of Acenta in March 2013, Gambit Corporate Finance also advised on the original purchase of Niagara Lasalle from its US parent Niagara Corporation in January 2011.
Adrian Jones, who leads the Birmingham office of Gambit, said, “To be able to deliver this deal in a continuing tough economic climate is testament to the quality of the Acenta business across its workforce from its management team to the shopfloor. The business is run on a conservative basis by Tarlok and Colin and the business could not have a better chance of success anywhere else than under their leadership”.
He continues, “The environment for raising debt remains challenging, but this deal proves that it is eminently possible given a realistic and sustainable business plan. GE Capital, Acenta’s long term debt provider, delivered without missing a heart beat which is fantastic and refreshing to see”.
