A busy November month for the James Cowper Kreston Corporate Finance team

Highlights included:

GfK

The team advised on the management buyout of GFK's global animal & crop health division, which exchanged in the second week of November. Based in Weston, Berkshire, the business, led by its Global Director Stephen Hearn, has grown rapidly since inception, delivering sales of around $40 million in 2014. Building on the foundations of an already successful business in agricultural & animal health market research globally, the new company will continue specialising in all aspects of market research in animal health, crop protection, farm machinery & equipment, seed/biotech & fertilizers. Closing of the transaction is intended to take place in the first quarter of 2016.

Stephen Hearn commented: "I would like to thank the Corporate Finance team at James Cowper Kreston for their pragmatic and diligent approach throughout the transaction. They were always on hand and dealt with any issues promptly. This, combined with their knowledge of the business, enabled us to work with a leading private equity house to help move the company into its next phase of growth."

Abzena plc

The Corporate Finance team acted as reporting accountant to AIM listed client, Abzena plc, in helping the Group raise £20 million through a placing of new shares. Abzena, a life sciences group providing services and technologies enabling the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, intends to use the proceeds to back further research and development work and make a further acquisition in the US to boost its service capability.

Julian Smith, CFO of Abzena plc commented: “We were very pleased with the way the James Cowper Kreston corporate finance team pragmatically managed this piece of work, complementing their audit team who were assisting with our Half Year results, announced on the same day. Their tax team also provided advice on the process, the acquisition and ongoing actions. This is a great example of a medium sized firm of accountants providing an integrated service supporting a client under extreme time pressure.”

Airbase Interiors

The team also provided lead advisory services to Gatwick based business, Airbase Interiors, which specialises in the repair and dry cleaning of aircraft seats, on its acquisition by Aero Technics. The deal was backed by mid-market private equity specialist, Graphite Capital.

Ferex

Finally, the acquisition of Ferex Limited, trading as Euraqua (UK), by Belgium based Pollet Water Group provided the team with its fourth acquisition in the month.

Other notable deals included providing transaction support to Strategy to Revenue Limited, a provider of sales effectiveness tools and services for business-to-business enterprises, on its sale to US listed company, AlphaPoint Technology Inc.

Nick Rogers, Head of the Corporate Finance team at James Cowper Kreston, commented:

"The last few weeks has been a very busy and challenging period for my team and with two more deals due to complete before the Christmas break, it can be safe to say we are all looking forward to some well earned downtime to enjoy the Christmas festivities. With a very significant pipeline of deals it is essential we recharge our batteries as 2016 promises to be a cracking year."