Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has advised on the sale of Bond Chemicals, completing a trio of international deals in as many months.
The Northern M&A team acted as lead sell-side advisor to Bond Chemicals, a specialist in the supply of chemicals and biochemicals to a global customer base. The Warrington-based company was sold to US-headquartered Calibre Scientific, a portfolio company of StoneCalibre, LLC for an undisclosed sum. The deal was led by M&A partner James Fieldhouse.
James Fieldhouse commented:
“The sale of Bond Chemicals to a US-based buyer is a fantastic deal, creating an exciting opportunity for the company as it looks to strengthen and expand its presence in the chemicals and biochemicals space. We look forward to seeing the success of the combined business in the future.”
The Bond Chemicals deal follows the sale of IDGateway Limited. BDO advised the shareholders of the UK-based provider of mission-critical identity management and background checking solutions to airports and other high-security environments. It was purchased by Valsoft Corporation – a Canadian-headquartered acquirer of vertical market software.
Completing the trio of deals, BDO acted as lead sell-side advisor to Wakefield-based SSG Insight, a leading provider of software solutions designed to manage and optimise enterprise asset management. It was acquired by Aptean Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Aptean, which is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, is a global front-runner of AI-driven ERP solutions, helping manufacturers and distributors effectively run and grow their businesses.
At the same time, BDO continues to invest in its corporate finance capabilities across the North with the recent appointment of Julie Brown as assistant director. She is part of an expanding team, following the arrival of Sam Gunn, Sabine Robertson, Charlie Makin, Jake Dutton and Ahmad Mostafa into the M&A team, together with the promotion of Eleanor Fearne and Dominic Eccles to Assistant Directors and Toby Jones to Assistant Manager.
Claire Frangou, M&A partner at BDO, adds:
“All three deals demonstrate that high-quality businesses, with a solid market position and a differentiated offer, continue to command positive interest, with notable appetite from US-based buyers.
“While there have been challenges in the M&A market due to the economic conditions over the last 2 years the recent levels of deal activity demonstrate a really positive uptick and illustrate the appetite for opportunities from buyers and investors and significant opportunity for exciting and dynamic businesses with a positive outlook. This is why we are committed to building our own team in the region as we strive to help Northern businesses succeed.”
In a recent keynote speech by the Prime Minister, he promised to ‘rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment’, promising them stable policy and low regulation as an incentive to invest in the UK.
Claire Frangou added:
“The Government is aiming to attract foreign capital to invest in the UK and help to drive growth in the economy.
“We must continue to make the UK a great place to do business and support the growth of the many scaling, entrepreneurial businesses that the Northern economy has been built on. In doing so they will attract both domestic and overseas investment to fuel their strategic aims and deliver growth.”
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