Member Article

Coffin Mew advises on Straightpoint UK acquisition

Leading law firm Coffin Mew, which has offices in Brighton, acted on behalf of Hampshire-based equipment manufacturer, Straightpoint (UK) Limited, in its sale to The Crosby Group, the largest lifting, rigging and materials handling hardware company in the world.

The acquisition includes Straightpoint’s manufacturing facility and headquarters in Havant, which will become Crosby’s UK centre of excellence for load monitoring and measurement, complementing key personnel located at its headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

Straightpoint UK shareholder, David Ayling, said: “Straightpoint has built a very strong team focused on innovation and high service levels and we wanted to ensure we could maintain and capitalise on these important features of the company. Crosby’s brand, its channel strength, global reach, and management team will enable us to build on our strengths and take the business to a new level. Becoming part of Crosby represents an opportunity to deliver our solutions to more customers and increase the pace of our innovation. It is an exciting new chapter for Straightpoint, its team members, and customers.”

Co-shareholder, Peter McGreal added: “It was a very important transaction for us and Coffin Mew’s multi-disciplinary team, led by corporate partner Dominic Travers, steered us adeptly through the transaction’s complexities, including issues around commercial property assets, employment concerns and also dealing with contractual matters. We were very pleased with the outcome and the transaction went through smoothly, thanks to the support we received.”

The South East is a prosperous place to do business and attracting the attention of many international investors, including The Crosby Group. The Straightpoint acquisition is a significant vote of confidence in the region’s engineering industry, shrugging off fears of Brexit uncertainty.

Dominic Travers added: “The deal involved staff from across Coffin Mew’s offices in Portsmouth, Southampton and Brighton, a real team effort that combined skills, expertise and resources to provide a winning client service. Working with Straightpoint and The Crosby Group was an absolute pleasure, they were well-organised and easy to communicate with. We wish them all the very best as they take the business forwards together.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Coffin Mew .