LDC acquires Fishawack from GCP in £38m tertiary buyout

The GP has acquired a majority stake in Fishawack and invested fresh capital in order to support the company's ongoing international acquisitive growth strategy.

According to a joint statement issued by LDC and GCP, the sale represents a strong return for the vendor.

Following the transaction, LDC investment director Simon Braham and director Jonathan Bell will take seats on the Fishawack board.

Under the vendor's tenure, the business has made a number of acquisitions, including the bolt-ons of Switzerland-based Archimed Medical Communications for £6m in June 2013, US-based JK Associates in March 2014 and UK-based Facilitate in July 2014.

During GCP's holding period, the business grew its headcount from 104 to around 230. It also increased its turnover from £11.4m in the year ending March 2013 to £25.3m in the year ending March 2016, according to publicly available documents.

LDC has a track record of investing in companies serving the pharmaceutical sector. Recent activity includes the £178m sale of clinical trial research business Synexus to trade buyer PPD in June 2016 and the SBO of ChargePoint Technology, a UK manufacturer of valves for use in the pharmaceutical, biotech and chemical sectors earlier this month.

The acquisition of Fishawack marks the second investment made by LDC's Manchester office in 2017, following the aforementioned acquisition of ChargePoint.

Debt
European Capital provided debt facilities to support the deal.

Previous funding
Fishawack originally came under private equity ownership in 2008, when YFM Equity Partners acquired the company via a £6m management buyout.

GCP then acquired Fishawack from YFM for £13m in April 2013, with the vendor reaping a 2x return on its original investment. The GP then provided various rounds of additional funding to support the bolt-ons of Archimed, JK and Facilitate.

Company
Established in 2001 and headquartered in Knutsford, Cheshire, Fishawack is a pharmaceutical media agency. Its clients include GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Novartis.

The business has a headcount of 230 across a total of six sites in the UK, US and Switzerland. According to the aforementioned documents, the company generated an operating profit of £880,000 in the year to March 2016.

People
LDC – Simon Braham (investment director); Jonathan Bell (director).
Growth Capital Partners – Garrett Curran (managing partner).
Fishawack – Oliver Dennis (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Clearwater International, Carl Houghton, Wesley Fell-Smith, Dan Rossington, Mark Taylor, Tom Barnwell, Kirsten Handley, Emma Rodgers (corporate finance); Addleshaw Goddard, Paul Medlicott, George Danczuk (legal); KPMG, Steven Heath, Chris Wilson (tax).
Vendor – BDO, Ruth Percival (corporate finance); Hill Dickinson, Craig Scott, Michael Murphy (legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Media
• United Kingdom
• Growth Capital Partners (aka Close Growth Capital)
• LDC