The deal

Our Corporate Finance team has successfully led the arranging and structuring of new debt facilities totalling £12 million to finance the continued growth of the BIMM Group on behalf of the company and Sovereign Capital.

Based in Brighton, the BIMM Group is the UK and Ireland’s leading provider of modern music further and higher education with specialist colleges located in Brighton, Bristol, London and Dublin and has been backed by Sovereign Capital since 2010. BIMM was first established in 2001 and has subsequently expanded with the opening of a new college in Bristol in 2008, the acquisition of Tech Music School in London in 2010, and the opening of a further new college in Dublin in 2011. BIMM has seen consistently strong demand for its music performance degree courses with total current student numbers now approaching 2,500. The opportunity exists to further develop the BIMM business by continued geographic expansion within the UK and the launch of a range of complementary new degree courses focused on Music Business and Music Production.

BIMM and Sovereign Capital had identified an exciting growth strategy for the business that involved further expansion of the college facility in Dublin, the relocation of the Tech Music Schools into one purpose designed site in Central London to increase student capacity, and the opening of a new college in Manchester to better access a proven and strong modern music education market in the North West. Achievement of this growth strategy required a meaningful increase in the group’s debt facilities and Sovereign Capital approached the team to lead the new debt raising process. Working closely with the BIMM management team, we conducted a detailed business analysis and presentation exercise generating strong interest from several mainstream debt providers in a competitive process. The deal was successfully concluded with BIMM’s existing debt providers with Barclays Bank’s South Debt Team providing a very competitive and flexible package of debt facilities to finance all of the strategic growth plans and secure the next phase of development for BIMM and Sovereign, without the need for additional equity investment.

“We were extremely pleased with the service from the team which resulted in BIMM receiving a very competitive and flexible debt package. Ian and the team provided a detailed knowledge of what was important to the banks and how best to present this, and were always looking to add value to the way in which they worked alongside the management team”. Dyson Bogg, Investment Director at Sovereign Capital Partners.

“We were grateful to the team for the experience and market perspective that they brought to this transaction and the very supportive and committed involvement right from the outset. We have been impressed with, not only in their ability to navigate the complexities and challenges of today’s debt markets, but in quickly building a clear understanding of our business model and developing a productive working relationship with us, as well as aiding the negotiations on several fronts. This resulted in a very successful outcome and a smooth and efficient process.” Nick Frogbrook, Group Finance Director of BIMM Group.