Finance Monthly Deal Maker Awards 2019 Edition

www.finance-monthly.com 52 FINANCE MONTHLY DEAL MAKER AWARDS 2019 TRANSACTION REPORTS ADVISER INTERVIEW Michael Finnigan i2i HQ Ltd. When conducting Due Diligence in such a transaction, what are important factors to consider? Our areas of Due Diligence are ‘People’ and ‘Culture’. It is vital that we give our clients accurate detailed information (real data) on those who are going to be responsible for delivering the plan; we must consider: strengths, weaknesses, concerns, risks, tensions, and areas to develop. We ask: are people holding it together and what are the hidden, high performers? Hone in on the specifics to address as you start to build key new relationships to capitalise on the investment. Pre-deal, we highlight issues which can be hidden or suspected and need to be verified and assessed. Action can then be taken quickly. Post-deal we stay to sustain confidence, focus and belief in the team to execute the plan, confirming that the deal was a catalyst to even greater success. How significant is conducting Management Due Diligence? It is pivotal. ‘Culture’ and ‘People’ differentiate businesses. Strategies and plans are great on paper; they have to be implemented. The people are always the ‘X Factor’ in any transaction. We have countless case studies where harnessing this makes THE difference, adding millions to the bottom line and protecting the investment. What challenges are you confronted with and how do you overcome them? The main challenge is how the introducer (usually ‘PE’) positions our role. Are we there to ‘find’ people out? Well, that can happen, often serving to confirm hunches. However, we’re really there to help ensure it all goes well and smoothly, so it helps if that is how we are positioned. Our own relationship skills then come to the fore, and our profile and confident, energised method bolster the team pre and post deal, to make sure they ‘hit the ground running’. The people see very quickly that we can be a huge asset to them as they enter a new world. The support we need is the assurance that action will be taken based on the findings, such as changes in approach, roles, and initiatives for quick wins. As the next sale then looms, our continued involvement keeps everyone focused on maximising performance to the very end. Transaction Report Beech Tree Private Equity acquires a stake in BCN Group Beech Tree Private Equity announced a significant investment in BCN Group, a fast-growing provider of IT managed solutions to UK businesses. Beech Tree Private Equity has been looking to invest in the sector due to the rapid growth in demand for the provision of cloud managed services and will support BCN with its plans to scale up rapidly in this highly fragmented market. According to industry forecasts, the CAGR across public cloud is expected to be 20% over the next five years. BCN Group, headquartered near Manchester Airport, provides a full range of IT managed services to support UK businesses. BCN provides on-premise, hybrid and cloud hosting solutions, cloud migration services, application support, voice solutions, data management, hardware sales and maintenance services to hundreds of customers across the country. BCN has a strong focus on technical knowledge and customer services, which has led to BCN’s sector leading Net Promoter Score of 89. BCN has also built an end-to-end, scalable management platform and ERP system, which automates tasks and manages customer interactions, ticketing and engineering workflows efficiency. This announcement appears as a matter of record only Beech Tree Private Equity Acquires A Stake In BCN Group MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE journey@i2iHQ.com| i2iHQ.com|@i2iHQ Legal adviser to Beech Tree Private Equity: Legal adviser to the BCN Group: Legal adviser to the BCN Group: Financial due diligence adviser to Beech Tree Private Equity: Management due diligence adviser to Beech Tree Private Equity: