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Wigan Athletic, Dechra Pharmaceuticals and The Co-op: The 13 latest North West deals
A series of high-profile deals have been announced by businesses based across the North West over the last week.
The likes of Wigan Athletic, Dechra Pharmaceuticals and The C-op have all been involved.
Below, BusinessLive has rounded up 13 of the biggest deals from across the region from the last couple of weeks we feel you should not miss.
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Leasowe Castle Hotel
All jobs at a historic castle hotel on the Wirral have been saved after it was sold out of administration.
Mazars LLP was appointed to oversee the process at Lawton Hotels, the operating company behind Leasowe Castle Hotel, before a deal was agreed.
The grade II-listed hotel “continues to trade as normal under the management and direction of the new owner”.
Read the full story here
Wigan Athletic
The owners of Wigan Athletic have agreed to sell the League One club.
The football club have been owned by a a consortium led by Bahraini businessman Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi since they were rescued from administration in March 2021.
The Latics had been in administration since July 2020. The sale to Phoenix 2021 Ltd, owned by Al-Jasmi, came after a deal with a Spanish consortium collapsed at the start of January 2021.
Read the full story here
Dechra Pharmaceuticals
Dechra Pharmaceuticals has agreed a £4.5bn takeover bid from Swedish private equity firm EQT.
The Northwich-based vet products group has been in talks since April over the deal which, if backed by shareholders, would be one of the biggest take-private moves in the UK so far this year.
The final offer from EQT is lower than the price it initially tabled.
Read the full story here
ParkVia
A company founded by the owner of Manchester Airport has acquired parking reservation platform ParkVia.
CAVU said the deal was part of its plans to become the number one provider of airport products and services worldwide.
It added the transaction will see it grow its inventory of airport parking worldwide and further expand its presence in Europe as well as unlocking new opportunities in ports, rail stations, city centres and other locations.
Read the full story here
The Co-op
Asda’s £611m deal to the Co-op’s petrol station business has been cleared by Britain’s competition regulator.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been looking into the deal, which was completed in October, which saw the supermarket giant snap up 132 petrol stations.
Earlier this year the watchdog launched a phase one investigation and in March said the deal could lead to higher prices or less choice in some parts of the country.
Read the full story here
Oak View Group
The co-owner of indoor entertainment venue Co-op Live, which is being built by Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, has acquired a luxury caterer that feeds punters at Royal Ascot.
Oak View Group (OVG) has snapped up Rhubarb Hospitality Collection in a deal worth over £100m.
Los Angeles-based stadium operator OVG, which is backed by Silver Lake, is a major backer of the Co-op Live development alongside City Football Group.
Read the full story here
APEM Group
Stockport-based environmental consultancy APEM Group has acquired Macro Works, a provider of landscape and visual consultancy services headquartered in Dublin.
Macro Works has public and private sectors clients from a range of industries including renewables, infrastructure and commercial development.
This is the fourth acquisition APEM has made in the past two years.
Since receiving private equity investment from WestBridge in 2019, APEM has seen its revenue grow from £10m to a forecast c.£60m in the current financial year, employing 540 people across five divisions.
InnovateHer
Liverpool-based InnovateHer, a social enterprise which aims to get girls ready for the tech industry and the industry ready for girls, has received a £50,000 grant as part of Innovate UK’s Future Flight Fund.
The organisation will use the monies to expand its outreach activities for teens aged 13-17 by designing a cybersecurity learning programme on its e-learning platform, with supporting initiatives to be delivered in schools across the UK.
The Future Flight Fund is a £300m initiative which aims to revolutionise the UK aviation industry by bringing together technologies in electrification, digital and autonomy that will create new modes of air travel and capability.
Together
Together has increased its revolving Lakeside securitisation programme from £700m to £825m.
The LABS facility finances primarily unregulated and regulated bridging loans originated by the Cheshire-based group and was first launched in 2015 as a £255m revolving securitisation facility. The facility was increased to £500m in 2019 and to £700m in 2022.
Over the past 12 months, Together has raised or refinanced over £2.4bn of facilities across six transactions, including private and public securitisations.
Calisen Capital
Manchester-based Calisen Capital has acquired London-based utilities software company Advizzo.
KBS Corporate advised on the sale to the specialist energy infrastructure assets manager.
Advizzo’s clients include Southern Water, Severn Trent and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).
Hyde Harrington
Scotland-based chartered surveyors DM Hall has acquired a firm in Cumbria.
The company has snapped up Hyde Harrington, which has offices in Carlisle and Kendal.
The directors and staff at Hyde Harrington will remain in place and in time will be rebranded as part of the DM Hall group.
Red Flag Alert
Red Flag Alert, the credit risk data and risk intelligence firm based in Manchester, has announced £4.5m funding from Foresight and Uncapped.
The company, which employs nearly 50 staff, has developed a proprietary SaaS business intelligence platform with modular capabilities spanning compliance, prospecting, risk management and financial health assessments.
Managing director Rich West said: “The data space is very fast-paced, and the demand is growing especially quickly.
“As disrupters in the industry, we find ourselves uniquely placed to meet the demands of our customers who need someone available immediately and not a business where they just feel like a cog in a wheel.”
Brown & Co
A Lancashire accountancy firm has taken over a long-established practice in Cumbria in a six-figure acquisition backed by Mercia’s SME Loans fund.
The deal brings together Brown & Co, which is based in Thornton-Cleveleys, with Ingalls of Kendal, which was founded in the 1930s.
It will enable Brown & Co to almost treble its turnover and more than double the size of its team from eight to 18. The deal also allows for the retirement of Ingalls’ managing director, Ged Whiteside, who bought into the business in 2011.
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