finnCap Capital Markets is delighted to have advised Surface Transforms on securing funding through a £16m placing and up to a further £2m through open offer. This fundraise supporting the profitable growth phrase.

finnCap Capital Markets is delighted to have advised Haydale Graphene on securing funding including a £5m placing and an Open Offer for up to 25.5m shares. Haydale Graphene is a key enabler of the nanomaterials revolution. 

Raymond Greaves, Head of Research, finnCap Capital Markets, comments: “We’re very pleased to have advised Haydale Graphene on securing further funding. Haydale is a world class industrial technology company in the nanomaterials space. This funding gives clarity to the business as it enters a phase of significant scale-up, driven by commercial momentum in many diverse areas such as biomedical inks, heating system efficiency and concrete protection.”

finnCap Capital Markets is delighted to have advised on the £26.25m fundraise for Solid State PLC, and its acquisition of California based Custom Power LLC.

Solid State is a specialist value added component supplier and design-in manufacturer of computing, power and communications products. This fundraise and acquisition (subject to GM) is a transformational deal helping to further internationalise our client and enhances their position in the battery and power technology market. Custom Power has attractive customer niches in aerospace, defence and medical that complement Solid State’s existing market positions.

Ed Frisby, Director, Corporate Finance at finnCap Capital Markets, commented: “The transaction attracted strong demand from institutional investors resulting in an upsized fundraise, adding excellent new names to the register.”

finnCap Cavendish, part of finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of Labcraft, the UK’s leading manufacturer of high performance and energy efficient LED lighting for the commercial vehicle and emergency services sectors. Labcraft has been acquired by Safe Fleet, a leading supplier of safety solutions for fleet vehicles, headquartered in Missouri, USA enhancing Labcraft’s presence in the US.

Labcraft has over 60 years’ trading history and has become the leading supplier for body converters, manufacturers and commercial and emergency fleet managers. It designs and manufactures a wide range of interior and exterior low voltage LED lighting solutions for the commercial vehicle sector.  Its products are fitted on vehicles around the world.

This acquisition bolsters Safe Fleet’s offering with the addition of premium safety lighting solutions to its unified brand portfolio and extending its product portfolio.

Labcraft, with its strong brand heritage, will continue to operate as a standalone entity within the Safe Fleet group.

The deal was led by Joe Stelzer, consultant at finnCap Cavendish.

Nick Luscombe, CEO, Labcraft: “Over the past 60 years we are proud to have built a market leading business.  We are now delighted that in Safe Fleet we have found a great home for our business to continue to grow, innovate and support both our employees and customers. Our advisor Joe Stelzer at finnCap Cavendish tirelessly assisted us through the process and was on hand at each and every step of the journey.”

Michael Schulte, President of Safe Fleet, commented: “Labcraft is a great addition to the Safe Fleet family.  Their drive to design innovative lighting solutions to improve safety and efficiency aligns with our mission to make fleets smarter and people safer.”

Joe commented: “We are thrilled to have advised Nick and his team at Labcraft on this transaction, which continues our strong finish to the financial year on the back of a raft of M&A activity in recent months.  This transaction is a further cross-border deal for us in the industrials sector, enhancing our credentials for cross border transactions. With the backing of Safe Fleet and its base in the US, Labcraft now has a great platform to accelerate its growth in existing and new markets.”

finnCap Cavendish, part of financial advisory firm, finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of KMP Holdings Limited, a leading independent supplier of aftermarket heavy-duty diesel engine parts for industrial and agricultural machinery, to Invicta Global Holdings Plc , a South-African-based industrials solutions company.

With over 25 years of experience in the sub-manufacturing and distribution industry, KMP has built up a loyal and global customer base actively selling their products to over 150 countries worldwide. The brand is renowned in the global after-market industry for providing a high-quality, reliable and competitively priced branded products.

KMP-branded products are sourced from regular approved suppliers to ensure their quality meets the technical specifications imposed by its own highly qualified engineering department.

KMP has an exceptionally strong global network, with distribution facilities in the UK, USA and Singapore as well as regional sales offices in Jordan, South Africa, Italy Australia, and Mexico

Listed and based in Johannesburg, Invicta is an investment holding and management company which has a specific focus on industrial solutions. The company owns a number of leading South African and international industrial companies and splits its divisions between capital equipment and engineering solutions.

The deal will enable KMP to deliver continued growth through further expansion of its product range, broadening of its customer base and expansion into markets. Its leading global presence will also enable Invicta to diversity into new geographical areas in the industries and markets which it has significant experience and strong management capabilities, a key part of its strategic growth strategy.

The deal, which was led by Joe Stelzer, Consultant and Chirag Gohil, Director at finnCap Cavendish.

Steven Joffe, CEO of Invicta Holdings Ltd said:

“We are very excited to work with KMP. The after-market engine parts sector has huge opportunities for future growth and we believe KMP’s strong global customer base and presence will help us deliver our core strategy to diversify into new geographies in the markets we have significant expertise and capabilities in.”

Joe Stelzer, Consultant at finnCap Cavendish commented:

“We are very proud to have advised on this deal, further cementing finnCap Cavendish’s expertise in the fast-growing industrials market. KMP is well-placed to benefit from the continued growth in the global heavy-duty machinery market and we believe Invicta is the perfect partner for delivering future growth in this market. The deal is another example of our strong expertise in the industrials sector.”

finnCap Capital Markets is delighted to have advised Eneraqua Technologies on its admission to AIM and £20m Placing. Eneraqua is a specialist in energy and water efficiency, helping customers to reduce carbon emissions and water consumption to meet corporate goals, comply with increasing regulation and save money.

The Group's services are split into two divisions: energy and water. Energy is the larger division and provides turnkey solutions for decarbonisation through heating and hot water systems for multiple occupancy social housing and commercial projects. The water division is focused on water efficiency upgrades for utilities and commercial clients such as hotels and care homes. These activities are underpinned by the Company's wholly owned technology solutions which reduce water wastage and improve the performance of heating and hot water systems.

The Company qualifies for the London Stock Exchange's Green Economy Mark from Admission, recognising that the Company derives 50% or more of its annual revenues from products and services that contribute to the global green economy.

Mitesh Dhanak, CEO at Eneraqua Technologies plc, commented: “Our admission to AIM is an exciting milestone for Eneraqua Technologies. The successful completion of our IPO represents the beginning of a new chapter as we look to accelerate our expansion into new markets and geographies.

“The London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy Mark, received today, recognises our Company’s ongoing contribution to the global green economy.

“I am delighted to welcome our new shareholders and would like to thank them for their support. We look forward to working with them in the years ahead as we build on our strong foundations and push forward with our growth plans."

Ed Frisby, Director, Corporate Finance at finnCap Capital Markets, commented: “Eneraqua supports their clients in the transition to Net Zero and with the achievement of sustainability goals. Our firm is delighted to support Eneraqua Technologies in its growth journey."

finnCap Cavendish, part of financial advisory firm, finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of FAI Automotive plc (“FAI”), one of the UK’s leading distributors of replacement automotive parts, to Motus, a South Africa headquartered automotive group.

Founded in the 1960s, FAI is an “All Makes” spare parts provider, with a range of over 25 product lines and 30,000 parts numbers, covering 64 vehicle manufacturers, including some of the world’s leading European, Japanese and Korean brands. FAI’s ever-growing export division serves over 60 countries around the world and 50% of company sales are generated from outside of the UK.

Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Motus is a diversified business in the automotive sector with a leading position in South Africa. Although the company has some presence in the UK, through its subsidiary Motus Group (UK) Ltd, FAI will be the first UK business it has acquired.

With FAI’s access to the key European aftermarket and ability to trade internationally, the acquisition will enable Motus to further its international growth strategy of increasing its presence in Europe and South East Asia. This includes establishing a distribution center in China to better serve its international client base with more products now sourced from the Far East.

The deal, which was led by James Ellis at finnCap Cavendish, will see Motus acquire 100% of FAI’s share capital.

James Ellis at finnCap Cavendish, commented: “We are pleased to have advised FAI on this deal, further demonstrating finnCap Cavendish’s international and cross-border deal-making capabilities. FAI’s brand and product range is renowned in the market for high quality, and this deal is a testimony to the ability of leading UK companies such as FAI to attract overseas buyers looking to expand internationally.”

Jonathan Alexander, CEO of FAI, commented: “The acquisition of FAI by Motus will bring us many synergies, with scope to expand our supply chains and product ranges, as well as the opportunities to enter new markets. Both existing and new customers will benefit from our core aims of best availability, best service, best quality and best price. Our business ethos is so closely aligned with Motus’s that the change of ownership will be seamless, but the benefits will be felt by all.”

Malcolm Perrie, CEO of Motus said: “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the FAI family into the Motus family and look forward to exploring all the great initiatives that we have collectively started.”

finnCap Debt Advisory supports Chiltern Capital on cross-border M&A.

Chiltern Capital has acquired Finnish flexible packaging company, Amerplast, and will combine it with Hanmere Polythene and Plasmech Packaging to form an enlarged, pan-European group.

Amerplast CEO, Mark Rooney, becomes the group CEO, working with Chairman, David Lennon and CFO, Jim Farrell, as well as the wider senior management team, to lead the business in delivering its ambitious growth plans.

The transaction was financed by a £52m multicurrency unitranche facility provided by Arcmont Asset Management and advised by finnCap Cavendish.

David Butler, Investment Manager, Chiltern: “This acquisition demonstrates Chiltern’s desire to support its portfolio companies in delivering both organic and inorganic growth. finnCap brought a number of financing options to the table to fund the acquisition and we are delighted with Arcmont as our partner going forward.”

Alistair Hay, Partner, finnCap Cavendish: “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to advise Chiltern on this transformational, cross-border acquisition. Arcmont stood out as the ideal funding partner for the Group having devoted significant efforts to tailoring a uniquely-structured solution to finance the transaction.”

finnCap’s Industrials Team is delighted to have advised Xeros Technology Group plc on its recent placing and open offer of £9m. The placing was oversubscribed and well-supported by new and existing shareholders alike. This marks the third equity raise in 15 months for a company leading the way in mitigating the environmental impact of garment manufacture & laundry.

Mark Nichols, CEO, Xeros Technologies, comments: “Since moving to finnCap we have been impressed by their ongoing attention to our business and its corporate finance needs. They delivered an excellent process in a highly compressed timeframe for our oversubscribed fundraising with a number of investors introduced by them to us over the last two years acting as cornerstones. We view their competence and relationship management as highly differentiated in the corporate finance and broking markets.”

Julian Blunt, Corporate Finance Director, finnCap Group, comments: “Xeros has come a huge distance in the last couple of years, transforming itself into a pure-play, IP rich licencing model which is now achieving real commercial traction with its OEM partners. The company’s IP is looking to address pressing environmental imperatives and finnCap is proud to have played its part in Xeros’ journey.”

finnCap have advised Surface Transforms Plc on an oversubscribed up to £20m Fundraise. Surface Transforms develop and produce carbon‐ceramic material automotive brake discs. They are the UK's only manufacturer of carbon‐ceramic brake discs, and only one of two mainstream carbon-ceramic brake disc companies in the world.

David Bundred, Non-Executive Chairman, Surface Transforms: "This funding will enable the Company to move to the next stage of its development - the building of OEM Production Cell Two will provide revenue capacity of £35 million at Knowsley from 2022, and enabling us to fulfil contracts we are confident of being awarded in the near future."

Kevin Johnson, CEO, Surface Transforms: "This decision to invest ahead of contract award reflects both our confidence in the strength of our pipeline - and our realisation that the new disruptive OEMs operate to different timescales than our other customers. The automotive industry is changing with electric vehicles central to this, and we are delighted to be a part of it."

Ed Frisby, Corporate Finance Director, finnCap: “finnCap is delighted to have worked again with Surface Transforms to secure funding for significant new additional manufacturing capacity for future growth.”

finnCap have advised Trackwise Designs plc on an oversubscribed up to £12m Fundraise. This funding will help our client meet requirements for increased IHT (Improved Harness TechnologyTM) manufacturing capacity, due to their recently announced EV OEM up to £38m manufacturing agreement, future anticipated IHT demand and emerging Medical and Aerospace market opportunities.

Philip Johnston, CEO, Trackwise, commented: “It has been a transformational 12 months for Trackwise, and the recent major agreement with an Electric Vehicle manufacturer demonstrates the significant traction our Improved Harness Technology™ is gaining in the market.
 
“We are delighted by the support shown by new and existing investors, providing us with the means to deliver against our growing pipeline of revenue opportunities across our primary target markets of EV, Medical and Aerospace, thereby maximising our long-term growth.”

Ed Frisby, Corporate Finance Director, finnCap Group, commented: “finnCap is very proud to play its part in supporting the Trackwise team as they continue to deliver their disruptive industrialtechnology to exciting high growth markets.”

finnCap have acted as joint broker in connection with a £1.4 placing for Surface Transforms Plc, the manufacturers of carbon fibre reinforced ceramic materials.