Cavendish, the full-service investment bank for growth and investment companies, is pleased to announce that it has advised on the merger of Goedhuis & Co and Waddesdon Wine, a subsidiary of the Rothschild Foundation, which completed on 3 November 2023.

Both companies will initially continue to trade under their existing names while the two businesses are fully integrated, to ensure no disruption to clients or suppliers. The new entity, Goedhuis Waddesdon Limited, is poised to become a formidable presence in the wine industry, uniting exceptional wine expertise, prestigious portfolios and first-class levels of service to create an unparalleled destination for wine collectors, retailers and hospitality businesses seeking to elevate their standards of wine excellence.

Goedhuis & Co is a distinguished, multi-award-winning fine wine merchant with over four decades of experience, celebrated for its expertise in all the great wine regions, with a particular focus on Burgundy and Bordeaux. Waddesdon Wine represents wines from Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite and Edmond de Rothschild Heritage exclusively within the UK.  Waddesdon Wine also represents Hundred Acre and collaborates closely with esteemed wineries including Henri Bourgeois and Penfolds.

Chateau Lafite Rothschild will retain a shareholding in the newly merged Goedhuis Waddesdon Limited. Goedhuis Waddesdon’s headquarters will be in London Bridge and at the Rothschild estate, Waddesdon Manor which has recently opened its newly renovated cellars which house the largest collections of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Mouton Rothschild outside of Bordeaux.

The lead advisers on the transaction were Lord Leigh of Hurley, Senior Partner, Rebecca McCredie, Director and Tom Holland-Hibbert, Associate.

Lord Leigh of Hurley, Senior Partner of Cavendish, commented:

“It has been a pleasure working with both the Goedhuis & Co and Waddesdon Wine teams. The partnership will enable the newly formed Goedhuis Waddesdon Limited to accelerate its expansion plans whilst remaining dedicated to its core offering. I look forward to watching its continued success.”

Johnny Goedhuis, Chairman of Goedhuis Waddesdon Limited, said:

“What makes this deal so special is the combination of Waddesdon’s extensive reach in the on-trade and their unique relationships with leading Bordeaux chateaux, with Goedhuis’ private client expertise and our extensive contacts in Burgundy and Italy. We are delighted to be joining forces with their great team and look forward to a shared future as a thrilling home for premium wineries and their clients.

• finnCap advises on fundraising for Ro&Zo
• Transaction completed by all-female founder team and all-female advisers

finnCap Group is delighted to announce it has advised accessible womenswear brand Ro&Zo on its first ever external funding round.  Pembroke,  the highly regarded consumer focused VCT, has invested £1.5 million in the business.

Ro&Zo, which was founded by Rachel Heather, Rosie Bowden and Zoe de Abreu in February 2021, has achieved outstanding growth despite the obvious economic headwinds.  The brand, which is led by CEO Rachel Heather, is sold in 15 John Lewis stores, johnlewis.com and Next online and is stocked on Zalando in Europe.

This round of investment will help Ro&Zo drive its direct to consumer business by raising awareness of its brand, develop its operations capability and scale the business in the UK. As part of this Ro&Zo is looking to launch its first high street store to provide an experience-driven, high quality omnichannel experience and is using data to find the best location suited to its customer profile.

Rachel Heather, CEO and co-founder of Ro&Zo, said:

“We are immensely grateful for the hard work and expertise we received from finnCap in securing this fundraise. Zuleika’s knowledge and communication skills were outstanding. It is the first time we have raised external funds so we were heavily reliant on their introductions, all of which were a good fit for Ro&Zo. Zuleika’s guidance through the process was exemplary. We are delighted to have chosen Pembroke as our new shareholders and look forward to a long relationship with them as we continue our growth strategy.”

Zuleika Salter, Head of Private Growth Capital of finnCap, commented:

“It’s an incredibly tough market for consumer brands at the moment so to have secured this funding for the team is testament to the strength of the business and a vote of confidence in the founders. It has been a real privilege to work with the phenomenally talented team at Ro&Zo. I look forward to following their success.”

finnCap Cavendish, part of finnCap Group plc, is delighted to announce it has advised the shareholders of William Morris London, the iconic British eyewear brand, on a sale of shares to Design Eyewear Group. The price and other terms have not been disclosed.

Following the transaction, Robert Morris, who founded William Morris London in 1996, will continue as Founder and Senior Brand Ambassador. As well as Robert’s ongoing creative input to product design and brand at William Morris London, he will help the customers and employees of the Design Eyewear Group gain an insight into William Morris London’s DNA and British design philosophy.

The deal was led by Jonathan Buxton, Partner and Mike Dinsdale, Director, supported by Leo Holdsworth, Senior Analyst.

Robert Morris, Founder and Creator of William Morris, commented:

“I’m excited that William Morris London is now joining a very professional and global company like Design Eyewear Group.

I’m very proud of the development William Morris London has undergone since it all began more than 25 years ago. I’m also convinced that Design Eyewear Group is the right partner to grow the company further through their established global sales network.”

Lars Flyvholm, CEO of Design Eyewear Group, commented:

“I’m proud that Design Eyewear Group has announced the takeover of such a reputable company with strong and exciting brands. With the acquisition of William Morris London, we’ve strengthened our position as a design brand house, and we’re pursuing our ambition to become one of the world’s leading multi-brand providers of design eyewear to independent opticians.

William Morris London’s brands each have a unique story based on the British design philosophy. The brands’ DNA and position in the market fit perfectly with Design Eyewear Group’s growth strategy and product range, and we look forward to joining forces to offer our customers an expanded, enhanced brand portfolio that caters for many different target groups and price classes.”

Jonathan Buxton, Partner at finnCap Cavendish, commented:

“I am delighted to have found such a fantastic home for William Morris London. We had the privilege of working with Robert Morris for several years ahead of the transaction and our in-depth knowledge of the business was incredibly useful when putting the deal together. Many congratulations to Robert and the team at William Morris!

The sale to Design Eyewear Group highlights our ability to access international purchasers and is our 10th transaction in the eyewear sector.”

finnCap Cavendish, part of finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of Peach Pubs to Revolution Bars Group plc for a cash consideration of £16.5 million.

Peach operates a collection of 21 award winning, premium gastropubs located in the South of England and the Midlands. The business is well-aligned to key structural trends, addressing customer demand for quality and locally sourced food and exceptional service in attractive surroundings.

Revolution is a leading operator of 69 premium bars, operating principally under two brands, Revolution (49 bars) and Revolucion de Cuba (18 bars).

The combined business will benefit from diversification and be strongly growth oriented. The acquisition provides greater balance to the enlarged business and diversified trading patterns and income streams.  Significant cost synergies are expected to result from the acquisition.

The entire operations team of Peach, led by Chris Stagg, will remain with Peach following the acquisition.

finnCap advised the founders of Peach on the sale. The deal was led by Henry Wells, Partner and Head of Consumer at finnCap Cavendish, supported by Mark Stoddart, Director; Hugh Ripley, Senior Associate; and Ellen Hudson, Associate.

Hamish Stoddart, co-founder & CEO, Peach Pubs, said:

“On behalf of all of the shareholders at Peach, a huge thank you to the team at finnCap Cavendish – they have done a great job.  With the unprecedented macro back-drop that we have all been experiencing, we needed an adviser who was thoughtful, tenacious and prepared to go the extra mile.  We got of all this in spades from the finnCap Cavendish team and it has been a pleasure to work with them. We would not hesitate to recommend them to other business founders and entrepreneurs who are in need of experience-led judgement and advice.”

Rob Pitcher, CEO, Revolution Bars Group, said:

“This is an exciting and transformative opportunity for Revolution. It broadens our guest base, balances our day part sales and seasonality whilst providing another avenue for growth both organically and by acquisition.

Peach is a quality business with great pubs offering a premium experience. It has rebounded strongly from the dark days of the pandemic. Central to this success has been a strong people focused culture with clear values that are focused on making the right choices for guests and our teams, a very similar approach to that taken at Revolution.

We welcome the Peach team to Revolution where they can continue their excellent work delighting guests and seek continued personal development in a business with a multi-pronged strategy that has similar values, ambition, and drive for excellence, which Peach has clearly displayed over the last 20 years.

I would like to acknowledge the exceptional work of Lee Cash, Hamish Stoddart and Jo Eames, as the founders of Peach, for creating an industry leading collection of premium gastro pubs.”

Henry Wells, Partner and Head of Consumer at finnCap Cavendish, commented:

“Congratulations to the Peach Pubs team – they have done a great job in creating a differentiated gastropub offering with community and ESG at its heart.  The business now has a great new home, and we are sure it will flourish under its new ownership at Revolution Bars Group. We are delighted to have advised the business and its shareholders on this successful completion and the success of this transaction is testament to the finnCap Cavendish deal team and their hard work. This transaction further underlines our quality consumer credentials and our ability to get consumer deals completed despite the challenging macro-economic environment.”

• The deal highlights finnCap's strength and track record in the restaurant sector


• The deal is part of a strong H1 for Consumer at finnCap


• The sale to TRG will enable Barburrito to expand its footprint across the UK and strengthen its offering.

finnCap Cavendish, the M&A advisory team at finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised Barburrito, the 16 site national chain of award winning burrito bars, on its sale to The Restaurant Group plc.

Founded in 2005 by its CEO, Morgan Davies, Barburrito has grown to become the second largest burrito bar in the UK and has grown to 16 restaurants in nine cities across the country, and the market leader in the north, serving c. 40,000 customers per week.

The sale to TRG will enable the business to expand its footprint across the UK and strengthen its offering.

The deal was led by Henry Wells, Head of Consumer and Mark Stoddart, Director.

Morgan Davies, Founder of Barburrito, commented:

“I am very proud of what we have achieved at Barburrito. We have gone from a simple idea to set up a cool restaurant selling freshly made burritos to being a sophisticated and professionally run hospitality business with multiple brands, operating in great locations and with fantastic teams across the UK.

"It was really important for me to find a good home for Barburrito, and I am personally delighted that TRG have chosen to take the brand forward now.  They are a great operator, who we know well, with the firepower to really grow and develop Barburrito into a leading national brand. This transaction will allow the Barburrito business to move to the next stage of its growth within TRG’s strong brand and site portfolio.

"I would personally like to thank all those involved with me in the Barburrito journey.  I have met some fantastic people along the way, worked with brilliant suppliers, world-class colleagues from the sector and of course the Barburrito crew who I am very proud of. I would also like to thank the team at finnCap Cavendish.  They have done a great job in finding us the right buyer and running a smart and efficient process.  Their support throughout has been excellent and combined with their commercial approach and sector knowledge, they have made great advisers for us.”

Henry Wells, Head of Consumer at finnCap Cavendish, commented:

“We are delighted to have advised on this deal and to have found an excellent new owner in TRG for our client. There is nervousness about the outlook for the consumer at present, but Morgan and Steve have developed a great business with a strong brand and the deal is testament to this.  It has been great working with them, and we look forward to observing the ongoing success of Barburrito as part of TRG.

This deal highlights our strength and track record in the restaurant sector as well as our ability to advise clients on sales mandates regardless of market conditions. I would like to thank the team at finnCap Cavendish for their hard work and commitment in achieving this result for our client.”

• finnCap Cavendish announces latest acquisition deal as part of healthy transactions pipeline


• The sale of Lyco Group to efectoLED aligns with finnCap Cavendish’s expertise in the e-Commerce sector


• The acquisition will accelerate UK-based Lyco Group’s development as part of efectoLED’s market-leading position

finnCap Cavendish, part of finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of Lyco Group, one of the UK’s leading online distributors of lighting products.

Lyco Group has been acquired by efectoLED, the leading online lighting distributor in Southern Europe and a portfolio company of Miura Partners. The acquisition will boost efectoLED’s plans to expand across Europe as the firm expects to open a new warehouse in northern France as part of its aim to reach a €100 million turnover.

This is the latest in a number of recent cross-border transactions on which finnCap Cavendish has advised and demonstrates its expertise in the sale of e-commerce businesses. This transaction follows on recent deals including London & Capital, TicTrac and The Floow.

With this transaction, efectoLED positions itself as a leader in the UK online lighting sector and consolidates its position in Europe, where it is already the market leader in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France. The deal also marks international growth potential for Lyco Group, based in Milton Keynes, as it makes its first footprint in Europe.

The deal is a major milestone for efectoLED as it continues its strong growth trajectory. Since 2016 efectoLED has grown at double-digit annual sales of 20%. The company currently operates in 12 markets under Ledkia brand outside Iberia. In addition, since Miura Partners’ investment, efectoLED has invested around €5 million to reinforce its structure − doubling its team to 240 employees, opening new offices, and increasing its warehouse capacity to 17,000 m2.

For Lyco Group, a specialist in the distribution of decorative and technical lighting through its well-known and established online and offline channels, the deal will enable the group to expand on its experience in the development of lighting projects in the hospitality, healthcare, and education sectors, among others. The management team will remain involved in the project to lead the consolidation of the group in the UK.

The deal was led by Joe Stelzer at finnCap Cavendish.

Joe Stelzer at finnCap Cavendish, commented:

“efectoLED is a business which thanks to its innovative offering, is fast dominating the market. This deal is the perfect moment for efectoLED to take its successful business model to another level, and for Lyco Group to capitalise on significant global market opportunities during the coming years. We were delighted to be the financial advisers on this exciting acquisition story which has a compelling growth forecast.”

Charles Barnett, Managing Director & Founder, Lyco Group, commented:

“Joe Stelzer and his team at finnCap Cavendish were the perfect partners as we navigated this exciting next step for the group. The firm’s wealth of expertise in advising entrepreneurial growth businesses, partnered with their quality of service and professionalism was invaluable and helped make this deal function as smoothly as possible.”

Paco Mas, CEO at efectoLED added:

“Lyco Group has a team of professionals with a long history in the UK online market, a notorious branding of its web platforms and a product catalog of both well-known brands and own brands. Our successful model of professional customer acquisition and recurrence will allow us to become the clear leader in the online distribution of lighting solutions in the UK, both in the decorative and technical segment. Thanks to Lyco’s management support we will achieve a rapid integration and implementation of the identified synergies.”

According to Jordi Alegre, Managing Partner at Miura Partners:

“efectoLED is taking firm steps to become the European leader in on-line lighting and has already a solid base to tackle its future international expansion plan.  The acquisition of Lyco, the upcoming logistics center in northern France and the structural foundations in team, systems and logistics capacity, will allow the company to continue growing at double digit with high profitability levels as it has been doing in recent years.”

finnCap Capital Markets is delighted to advise Parsley Box Group Plc on a fundraising of up to £7m, comprising equity fundraising of £5.9m and an open offer to raise up to £1.1m.
 
Parsley Box is a direct-to-consumer provider of ready meals focused on the Baby Boomer+ demographic, and the proceeds of the Fundraising will be used to target new customer acquisition, develop a tailored online customer journey and community focused membership program, new product development for food, food + and beyond food strategy, as well as strengthening the balance sheet and general working capital to support a 4-year-old scale up business.
 
Matt Goode, Head of Consumer, finnCap Capital Markets, commented: “In the current challenging equity markets it takes a lot of tenacity and hard work to successfully complete fundraising transactions and we are delighted to have helped Parsley Box raise the new funds required to execute its strategy. This is one of a number of fundraising transactions that the finnCap Consumer team has completed over the last 12 months in an ever changing consumer environment.”

finnCap Cavendish, part of financial advisory firm, finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised Big Green Smile (BGS), a leading e-commerce brand and technology provider in the natural and organic, household and beauty market, on a significant investment from impact investor Future Business Partnership (FBP).

Founded in 2008, Big Green Smile has become a market-leader for natural products online in the UK and mainland Europe, setting standards of excellence for natural and organic personal care and household goods.

BGS provides customers a “one stop shop” for ethical products with over 200 different brands on its platform. BGS’s proprietary technology platform generates significant data analytics allowing it to optimize the customer experience and product selection for its loyal returning customers with a rapidly growing database of c.160,000 customers. BGS also uses its technology platform to offer leading purpose-driven brands a fully outsourced white label e-commerce solution.

The company has delivered exceptional growth in recent years and with FBP’s investment it will be able to accelerate its ambitious growth plans.

The transaction also marks FBP’s first investment which is in line with its new strategy of bringing ethically-motivated capital to sustainably-minded brands.

The deal was led by Karri Vuori, Partner at finnCap Cavendish, Stephen Nemeth, Director and Emily Hill, Senior Associate.

Karri Vuori, Partner at finnCap Cavendish commented:

“We are delighted to have advised Big Green Smile on this transformational investment allowing the business to continue its exceptional growth story. Finding the right investor whose philosophy matched BGS’s impact driven culture was paramount, and we are proud to have played a part in helping the company on its journey to a better world.”

We are delighted to have acted as Financial Adviser and Rule 3 Adviser to the Independent Directors of our long term client, Photo-Me, in relation to the £284.5m offer from Serge Crasnianski, Photo-Me’s CEO.

finnCap Cavendish (“Cavendish”), part of financial advisory firm, finnCap Group plc, is pleased to announce it has advised on the sale of Pimlico Plumbers to Neighborly Inc., the world’s largest franchisor of home service brands.

Pimlico Plumbers which was founded in 1979 by Charlie Mullins is the UK’s largest independent home services company. The business has grown rapidly throughout the UK over recent years and continued to grow throughout the pandemic and lockdown restrictions.

Neighborly is a US based business operating a similar model to Pimlico Plumbers.  The company is owned by KKR, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. The acquisition of Pimlico Plumbers expands Neighborly to 29 brands across 19 service verticals and nearly 1,500 associates operating in nine countries.

For Neighborly, the acquisition of Pimlico Plumbers provides them with ownership of a celebrated British brand and access to the UK market. Pimlico’s wide array of trade services as well as its exceptional customer care perfectly align with Neighborly’s purpose.

John Farrugia, Managing Partner of finnCap Cavendish led on the deal and was supported by Sam Kavanagh, Emily Hill and Rebecca McCredie.

John commented:

“Pimlico Plumbers is a fantastic business with a strong track record and growth potential as well as an excellent reputation for customer service. In a relatively short space of time Charlie has built an iconic British business and hands over the reins to Neighborly who are the ideal owners for the business.

I am hugely proud of the work the team has done in positioning the brand, strategically maximizing the valuation and importantly building a rapport and trust with the client.”

finnCap Group is delighted to announce a £21m #undraising for Revolution Bars Group PLC (LON:RBG).

Matt Goode, Head of Consumer, finnCap Capital Markets - “We are delighted to have raised £21m for Revolution Bars Group plc, which will enable it to reduce indebtedness, accelerate its existing site refurbishment programme and take advantage of favourable market conditions for estate expansion.

This is finnCap’s third significant Consumer sector public market transaction of the year, following the £60m founder shareholder sale for the founders of Best of the Best and the £84m IPO of Parsley Box. With the anticipated exit from lockdown restrictions in the UK we are anticipating a consumer spending ‘boom’ over the coming months, providing a favourable fundraising backdrop for companies in the #Consumer sector.”

finnCap Capital Markets have advised BOTB.com (Best of the Best Plc) on a £60m secondary placing for the founders and major shareholders of the company.

Best of the Best management team commented: "We are delighted with the outcome of the secondary placing last week, and the support we have been shown by new and existing institutional investors. We welcome a number of important new institutions on to the share register and we look forward to continuing to deliver shareholder value in the months and years ahead. We would like tend our thanks to the whole finnCap team for executing a successful transaction, involving high quality new investors. This has delivered our long term ambition of diversifying the share register to reflect our decision to remain as a publicly listed company.”