Background

Reef Environmental’s core business is confidential waste disposal and trade waste removal, supporting clients from private companies, local government, the NHS and charity sectors, with a focus on sustainable recycling. Reef, which operates in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, had grown every year since it was founded in 2015, and the owners received a number of approaches to sell the company. Although experienced in M&A transactions, the owners wanted corporate finance advisers to help them with the sale of their business so they could retire from the industry, and approached FRP.

Action

FRP’s Corporate Finance team was engaged to support Reef’s management through the sale, and was tasked with finding a new owner for the company. Having prepared the business for sale and completed the information memorandum, our team marketed it for sale to a list of potential buyers, resulting in a number of offers for the company. We resolved a number of significant issues during the negotiation and completion phase, with Reef’s owners valuing the teams input into the deal process, as well as their knowledge of the waste sector from previous transactions.

Outcome

FRP secured the successful sale of Reef for an undisclosed sum to London-based BPR Group, in a deal that will ensure Reef’s future growth. The Group, which trades as Paper Round, is a commercial recycling expert originally founded by Friends of the Earth in 1988; now a standalone company, it was seeking to extend its geographical reach and existing operations in the South East.

“Although we have sold businesses in the past, with this transaction we really valued FRP Corporate Finance’s expertise and advice to help us get the sale over the line, meeting all our objectives within the originally agreed timescale.” Richard Taylor, Co-Managing Director of Reef Environmental Solutions.