GCA Altium’s UK team excels through lockdown

Global investment bank GCA Altium’s UK team has completed seven transactions since the start of September, four of which were in the North West.

GCA has completed over 110 deals globally since lockdowns began across Europe in March, many of which have been in technology. GCA Altium, GCA’s European business, has closed significantly more deals than its key competitors across Europe in the last two years.

The UK team has made a strong contribution to the firm’s performance, with six of the recent series of deals in the technology sector and two with strong ESG credentials.

This series of transactions underlines the UK team’s expertise in the Technology sector and coincides with the appointment of Adrian Reed, who specialises in Technology focused transactions, as head of the Manchester office.

The team acted as lead adviser to Mobysoft, the provider of predictive analytics software to the UK social housing market, on its investment from ECI; Mitrefinch, a global provider of workforce management software, on the sale to Advanced (one of the largest British software and services companies); Acentic, the provider of entertainment and communication-related services to the hospitality industry, on its sale to Hoist Group; Sparta Global, an innovative technology and training services provider, on the sale of a majority stake to Inflexion Private Equity; Graphite Capital, a leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, on the acquisition of a majority stake in Ten10, a leading quality engineering and software testing consultancy, from Livingbridge; and in the Industrials space the team advised Rhino Products, Europe’s leading manufacturer of light commercial vehicle accessories, on its investment from LDC.

The UK team also worked with their New York colleagues in advising Interactive Services, a Dublin-based global compliance and online learning firm, on its sale to US ethics and compliance education and technology company, LRN Corporation.

The transactions with Mobysoft and Interactive Services highlight GCA Altium’s ESG focus, which is becoming increasingly significant in M&A. GCA Altium has a history in ESG M&A and has recently increased its emphasis on this area with a global ESG advisory team and an internal ESG programme with a focus on creating a positive impact for all its stakeholders – including clients, shareholders, employees and communities.

As part of this programme, GCA Altium this week appointed Dr Jules Wurlod as ESG Director in a newly created role. Jules will support GCA Altium’s deal teams on both ESG origination and execution, and the internal ESG team with the development and implementation of the firm’s ESG strategy. He brings profound knowledge in the area of ESG and sustainability, with more than 10 years of experience across academia, public sector organisations and management consulting. Jules holds a PhD in environmental economics from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

Phil Adams, CEO at GCA Altium, said: “After an inevitable pause in the second quarter as a result of the pandemic, we have seen a phenomenal level of deal activity in the North West, wider UK and globally, underpinned by our focus on growth sectors. Deals have been moving at greater pace, due to more streamlined and efficient processes, and businesses which have proved resilient this year are attracting extremely strong valuations.

“Our pipeline for 2021 is at record levels following a very strong period of new business wins since mid-summer. ESG is becoming a growing part of our focus, both internally and externally, and we were delighted to welcome Jules to the team.”