£350k MBO deal paves way for growth of York landscaping firm

York’s ATM has completed a management buy-out following its split from parent company.

The vegetation management, fencing and landscaping firm split from DeAngelo Bros 18-months ago, with help of private equity firm Fresh Equity.

They have now harnessed the help of another financial service provider to complete an MBO, furthering ambitious plans for the business.

ATM has seen turnover almost double in the past year, from £4.5m to a projected £9m in 2019.

This has allowed the senior management team to fund a management buy-out using cash reserves, along with a finance deal partly underwritten by Optimum Finance.

Optimum Finance have supported the company using invoice funding, which helps businesses boost their cash flow by accessing outstanding funds owed by customers.

ATM specialise landscaping, forestry, highway maintenance, seeding, fencing and vegetation management, completely light civil works for councils, utility companies, contractors and architects.

The firm completed the MBO in May this year, following a complete turnaround and restructuring plan.   Commenting on the deal, managing director Clive Freeman, said: “Using invoice finance to fund a deal of this nature is not typical but shows what’s possible when looking for flexible funding options.

“Optimum Finance has taken a highly creative approach which has enabled this deal to go ahead.

“The fast pace of the process for approval and receipt of the funding from Richard Pepler and his team an Optimum has been fantastic.”   CEO of Optimum Finance, Richard Pepler, added: “ATM is a great example of the type of business we like to work with – they are ambitious and focused on future growth and they understand the benefits that using invoice finance can provide in gaining immediate access to cash owed enabling them to focus on growth.

“All too often we see lack of access to cash hamper companies’ commercial success so it’s been great to be part of making this deal happen.” 

The remaining trade and assets of DeAngelo Bros were sold to trade investors, securing the future of the business and its employees.