A raft of high-profile deals have been announced by North West businesses over the week.
The likes of Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett, LDC and Travel Counsellors are among those to have been involved.
Below, BusinessLive has rounded up 12 of the biggest deals from across the region from the last couple of weeks we feel you should not miss.
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If you have a new deal that you would like featured in our next round up, please e-mail jon.robinson@reachplc.com.
Steven Bartlett
A $100m fund spearheaded by Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett has made its first investment.
Flight Fund, which was launched in January seeking to back the next generation of businesses aiming for a $1bn valuation, has invested $2.5m in personalised nutrition company ZOE.
The move comes after the company secured $38m in its Series B extension round in December.
Located in London and Boston, ZOE was founded by Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London, data science leader Jonathan Wolf, and entrepreneur George Hadjigeorgiou.
ZOE is also backed by international investors Accomplice and Balderton Capital and has secured over $92m in funding so far.
Travel Counsellors
A technology platform for travel entrepreneurs has made its first acquisition in the company's near 30-year history.
Manchester-headquartered Travel Counsellors has snapped up Holidaysplease for an undisclosed sum.
The Birmingham-based online travel company has approximately 100 home-working travel experts, 50 franchisees, and around 50 employees.
Holidaysplease generated total transaction value (TTV) of more than £40m in 2022.
KCA Holdings
Leigh-based technology group KCA Holdings (KCA) has announced a £5.3m minority investment from BGF.
The investment from BGF will enable KCA to accelerate investment into both Service Geeni, its service and workforce management software platform, and Cloud Geeni, its Cloud IT service.
The deal was led by Harry Jones and Josh Bean, investors in BGF’s Manchester team.
Advisors to BGF on the transaction were Mills & Reeves (legal), Hurst (tax) and Vim Vithaldas (FDD).
Advisors to KCA were MHA Moore and Smalley (corporate finance and tax) and Butcher and Barlow (legal).
Coral Products
Wythenshawe-based Coral Products has entered a new improved banking facility with Virgin Money.
The deal gives the group a banking facility of £10.35m, comprising £7.35m for invoice financing and £3m for trade financing.
It has also re-mortgaged the freehold buildings acquired with Film & Foil Solutions Ltd and Alma Products Ltd for a combined £2.1m which after repaying existing mortgages improves the group's working capital position by c.£1.4m.
The group has also been pre-approved for up to £1.5m of asset finance to fund future capital projects.
Supreme
Manchester-based consumer products maker Supreme has entered into an agreement for the disposal of the intellectual property of T-Juice (including the Red Astaire brand), to an associated company of La Vape Professional Distribution, one of France's largest wholesalers of electronic cigarettes and e-liquids for €4.5m.
Supreme and LVP have entered into a new partnership under which the listed firm retains the exclusive manufacturing rights to T-Juice with minimum €15m of revenue over five years for Supreme.
Chief executive Sandy Chadha said: "We are delighted to be entering into a long-term partnership with LVP, who are ideally placed to fully capitalise on the strength of the brand across Europe given their extensive and well-established distribution."
Vector Homes
A clean tech company which is developing new techniques and materials for affordable and sustainable modular housing has closed its seed investment round after raising £450,000.
Manchester-based Vector Homes has secured the funding from SFC Capital, GC Angels, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and social housing investment firm HSPG.
Vector has also raised £375,000 in grant funding since its inception through Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.
The cash injection totalling more than £800,000 is supporting Vector’s development of sustainable and lightweight materials for construction.
We Are Adam
A Manchester-based recruitment company has become employee owned.
We Are Adam, founded in 2006, specialises in HR, executive and digital recruitment and has 17 staff.
The existing management team, led by CEO Richard Gahagan, are all continuing in their roles.
The corporate finance and tax teams at MHA Moore and Smalley advised the shareholders of We Are Adam on the setting up of the EOT, providing financial and taxation structuring advice.
Merchr
A new print-on-demand merchandise platform has swung into production at a Greater Manchester facility after securing £350,000 in an oversubscribed pre-seed fundraising round.
The latest investment in Merchr, which exceeded its initial target of raising £250,000, has enabled its founders to further develop the company’s technology, invest in equipment and recruit more staff to bring its offering to market.
Co-founders Nora Yassin, head of partnerships, and Jack Fox, head of operations, have recruited a 12-strong team of front-end developers, production, marketing and administrative staff for the launch, with plans to grow the workforce in line with the expansion of the business.
Murray Rix
A family-run firm of civil and geotechnical engineers has changed hands in a seven-figure buy-out.
Murray Rix, which is based in Dukinfield, has worked on some of the UK’s most high-profile projects including the Etihad Stadium, the Trafford Centre and the Liverpool cruise liner terminal, as well as Canary Wharf and the Gherkin in London.
The deal gives control of the business to Owain Davies, who joined 10 years ago, and allows the current managing director Steve Hutchings, who is the son of the original founder, to realise the majority of his investment in the business
Blackburn-based Pierce Corporate Finance advised on the deal, which was funded by an SME loan from Mercia.
John Porter and Shan Shahriar of Oldham-based Wrigley Claydon provided legal advice to the MBO team, while Val Stockley of Oldham-based North Ainsley advised the vendors.
Horsefly
Horsefly, an artificial intelligence-based talent analytics platform, has secured a significant investment from private equity firm LDC. The transaction marked an exit for Mercia.
Based in Merseyside with a presence in the US, Horsefly enables HR-decision making at international organisations including Coca Cola, EDF Energy, Manpower, Indeed, Jaguar Land Rover, the UK Home Office and Virgin Media.
Will Crandle, founder and CEO of Horsefly, said: "We are really proud of our growth in the last few years, and I’d like to thank Keith Jones, our co-founder and seed investor, and Mercia not only for funding our early years but also for appointing my most crucial mentor as chair, Rod Hyde, who helped our brilliant team establish Horsefly as a leading talent analytics platform."
Innov8
A Stockport-based provider of software and IT infrastructure for businesses throughout the UK has secured a finance deal with NatWest.
Innov8, which employs 80 staff in Stockport, York and Bromsgrove, was founded in 1997.
Finance controller Phil Astin said: "As the business has grown organically and through acquisitions over the last few years, we wanted to secure a new funding partnership that matched our needs and future ambitions. This new relationship with NatWest gives us the flexibility and freedom to explore new opportunities, which really puts us in control of our own destiny."
Warrant Group
Liverpool-based freight forwarder Warrant Group has become one of the largest employee-owned companies in the UK.
Ian Jones and Lynsey Morrison have sold 90% of their shares to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), allowing them to step back from the business over time.
As a result, Mr Jones has stepped down as managing director and taken a non-executive director role on Warrant Group’s board while Mrs Morrison has stepped down from her role as finance director and taken up a new role as chairman.
Andy Simpson has been appointed as managing director and John Healy has taken over as finance director.
DSG Chartered Accountants and Glenville Walker & Partners advised on the move.
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