Member Article

Grant Thornton advises Norfolk entrepreneurs on strategic sales

A CORPORATE finance team from Grant Thornton UK LLP has advised on two key deals in Norfolk within a week, as the firm continues to lead the way in the East Anglia region.

The first transaction saw listed Midland building materials company Epwin plc acquire Norwich-based plastics recycling specialist Poly-Pure for £15m.

Founded four years ago, Poly-Pure is a fast-growing materials re-processor, recycling post-consumer and post-industrial PVC building materials, notably UPVC window frames and was seen as a strong strategic fit by Epwin.

In Poly-Pure’s financial year ended 31 July 2022, it expects to report revenues of £10m and adjusted EBITDA of £2.5m.

The second transaction, which was also led by Corporate Finance Director Stuart Davies, was the sale of Computer Service Centre Limited by its founders Christopher Cooper and Jeremy Clarke to private-equity-backed managed IT services provider Acora.

Founded 25 years ago, the Norwich-based company has 60 staff and is a leading provider of IT managed services to more than 100 SMEs in the South and East of the UK.

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, was Acora’s seventh in the last five years and enables it to offer a new service line in the 50-250 user market, Stuart Davies of Grant Thornton said: “We are delighted to have delivered excellent outcomes for the entrepreneurs behind Poly-Pure and Computer Service Centre. In both cases there are compelling reasons for the sales and both companies will now be able to accelerate their already impressive growth by being part of larger businesses.

“Despite a more challenging economic environment, the M&A market remains strong in Norfolk and East Anglia alike, with continuing trade and Private Equity appetite for good quality businesses , which is reflected in both these excellent deals.”

Mr Davies was assisted by Adam Furrer in the Computer Service Centre transaction and Ned Brown on the Poly-Pure deal.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Robson .