Middlesbrough games developer SockMonkey Studios has been snapped up by Canada’s largest video game studio Behaviour Interactive for an undisclosed sum.
The company was founded in 2013 by Teesside University graduates Darren Cuthbert and Bob Makin, who set out to create a ‘superstudio’ in the Teesside town. They were joined by Darren Falcus, co-founder of Optimus Software, one of the first video game studios on Teesside. The deal provides an exit for NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), and which achieved a fourfold return on investment.
The three founder members will stay on in their current positions and help to continue SockMonkey’s growth in the North East. SockMonkey is Behaviour’s first European investment and will be renamed Behaviour UK – North upon acquisition.
Read more: £450m film studios plan to make Sunderland a European industry leader
Bob Makin, SockMonkey’s co-founder and CEO, said: “We’re thrilled to celebrate our tenth anniversary year by joining Behaviour’s growing group of studios. Behaviour is rapidly emerging as a global player within the gaming industry, and we are proud to represent the first step in their European expansion. We look forward to leveraging their resources to grow Behaviour UK – North, provide further career opportunities for the UK’s exceptional talent, and establish the Teesside area as a hotbed for game development.”
The Apartment Group has acquired its latest wedding venue in Croft-on-Tees. The 24-bedroom Grade II listed Croft Hotel at Croft-on-Tees is set for a £2m upgrade after being acquired by Newcastle-based leisure operator for an undisclosed sum.
Work is set to start imminently on the addition of six new bedrooms, the creation of a new chapel, an extensive transformation of the function suite and a range of other improvements across the hotel’s restaurant, wellness facilities and gardens, with the expanded venue expected to be ready to host weddings and events this summer. Up to 30 new jobs are also expected to be created as part of the upgrade, with the hotel’s existing team all staying in post.
The Croft Hotel joins the firm’s other boutique venues around the North East, including Newton Hall near Alnwick, Le Petit Chateau in Northumberland and the Grade II listed Whitworth Hall in County Durham. It also opened its latest property, Runa Farm in Barnard Castle, last year.
Apartment Group founder Duncan Fisher said: “Each of our wedding venues has its own character and its own story, and the Croft Hotel fits extremely well with this concept. Over 100 years ago, people travelled from all over Europe to enjoy the luxurious services and healing properties of the Croft Hotel & Natural Spa waters, and we want to reinstate this enviable reputation.
Breakdown company The AA is investing in a new regional office for its 700 staff as part of plans to modernise its operations.
The AA will be moving to Quorum Park in March after spending nearly 30 years at Newcastle Business Park, after signing up for 27,000 sqft of workspace across three floors at Q3. A full office fit-out programme is being carried out for the company in the new offices, which will give it ample room for a growing workforce.
The news comes as part of plans by the AA to look at its future direction and modernise current work practices in the face of changing operations, which have been accelerated by the Covid pandemic, providing its 700-strong North East workforce with a more flexible, contemporary work environment.
The joint administrators of Tolent plc confirmed they have concluded a sale of assets which will allow Sunderland based Brims to resume servicing the customers of the Tolent industrials business.
The Sunderland company worked with the former chairman and founder of Tolent, John Wood, to bring some of the collapsed firm’s sites back into action. The plan sees Tolent’s previous Teesside management team re-employed by Brims, along with staff, operatives and members of the supply chain, whose aim will be to ensure minimum disruption to clients. Brims was established 16 years ago by Ian Clift, Jason Wood and Richard Wood. All were previously employed by Tolent, which was founded by John Wood – Jason and Richard’s father.
James Lumb and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory, who were appointed joint administrators to Tolent plc and five of its operating subsidiaries on February 13, said: “We know the construction sector is enduring a difficult month, particularly in the North East, where the effect of the Tolent and other administrations in the region is putting significant pressure on already stretched cash flows in the supply chain.”
“So this sale is really welcome news and provides opportunities for re-employment for those members of staff who worked for this part of the Tolent business, and who were made redundant when the companies entered into administration. We are continuing to explore the possibility for sales of the remaining businesses and assets in the Tolent group.”
In a separate deal, regeneration specialist RE:GEN Group opened new headquarters after taking on 33 staff from collapsed construction company Tolent. bosses at RE:GEN Group said they quickly reacted to create the new roles and ensure those who were made redundant could secure employment.
Nine new roles have been recruited into RE:GEN Group while 24 roles have been safeguarded with the creation of RE:GEN Solutions, a new solution-based subsidiary delivering an asbestos abatement and management service to the firms social housing clients. The company has bought its new base at Sunderland’s Doxford Park to bring the business closer to key clients – and also accommodates the appointment of the new staff who were made redundant from Tolent two weeks ago, following the appointment of administrators.
A Northumberland business specialising in the global export of artificial plants and trees has set down roots in a new factory. Treelocate sends its tropical trees to exotic locations all around the world, with its clients including Dubai International Airport, ANZ Bank in New Zealand, the BBC, Marks & Spencer, and Next.
The Belford business, which designs and manufactures all of its artificial plants and trees before exporting them abroad, needed a better site for its work, so tapped into support from the North of Tyne Combined Authority. The firm used almost £150,000 from the North of Tyne Rural Business Growth Fund to build a sizeable new factory, which marks a significant step up from the small barn the business was originally launched in.
Mark Nesbitt said: “What the Rural Business Growth Fund money has really allowed us to do is to complete the building more quickly and to the standard we wanted. We have some quite important clients coming in and our products are very showy. We wanted to show them off in the best way possible.”
A hydrogen pioneer is set to boost green skills and scale its business on the back of a £36m investment from global industry leaders.
GeoPura – which has bases in Newcastle and Nottingham – has secured the investment in a round led by GM Ventures and Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, with participation from SWEN CP and Siemens Energy Ventures. The funds will allow GeoPura to ramp up its green hydrogen business, which is using its hydrogen power generation technology to replace diesel-fuelled generators with its Hydrogen Power Units (HPU), helping the UK on its zero-emissions journey.
Andrew Cunningham, CEO of GeoPura, said: “Green hydrogen is too often seen as a technology that will happen in the future, but GeoPura and our partners are delivering a commercially viable technology, today. The world can’t afford to wait a decade for green fuels to scale – we must act now. This investment allows us to build on our installed base of HPUs and hydrogen production infrastructure to stimulate the green hydrogen economy, and then expand the use of clean fuels into other hard-to-decarbonise areas of our energy system. "
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