The deal

Our Corporate Finance team has successfully advised the shareholders of IWS Group, on a debt raise through Santander UK, to consolidate their business activities under one group, and fund a buy and build acquisition strategy in the provision of essential products and services to the logistics, warehousing and material handling sectors.

In August 2018, business partners and Co-Directors Jeroen van den Berge and Tim Lacey acquired Beaverswood – a specialist supplier of visual communication solutions for health, safety, storage and recycling in the industrial workplace. Based in Wokingham and in operation since 1984, Beaverswood designs and produces a range of over 1,700 SKUs across 30 product lines, supplying a wide network of resellers across Europe.

Following this successful investment, Jeroen and Tim went on to acquire Brandsafe in October 2019. Based in Milton Keynes, and with a global client base including Amazon, Ocado, DHL and Lidl, Brandsafe designs, manufactures and installs high visibility and sustainable impact protection solutions to keep people, physical assets and premises safe. Brandsafe’s proprietary product range is now also offered through Beaverswood’s reseller channel.

The debt advisory team were engaged by Tim and Jeroen to take them through the process of raising a package of debt facilities to consolidate the businesses into the full ownership of IWS Group and fund the company’s future strategy to grow the business both organically and through acquisition. This involved presenting to a range of potential lenders, deal structuring, securing credit approvals, negotiation of terms and handling the banking legal documentation process as well as working closely with Jeroen and Tim in bringing together other key work streams in the creation of the new IWS Group entity. The debt team secured new facilities with Santander UK to support the next exciting chapter of the group’s development.

In addition to the debt advisory support provided by Ian and the debt team, Tim and Jeroen are also now working closely with The team lead advisory as they start to plan for future acquisitions – including one such acquisition opportunity which is in the near term pipeline and will further consolidate IWS Group’s position as market leaders in the provision of essential products and services to the logistics, warehousing and material handling sectors across Europe.

Jeroen van den Berge, CEO at IWS Group commented, “This is a very exciting time for IWS Group as we consolidate our interests in Beaverswood and Brandsafe under a single platform for industrial specialists. The warehouse, logistics and materials handling sectors have seen unprecedented growth due to new shopping behaviours and IWS Group is bringing together businesses built on specialist expertise and customer centricity to serve these sectors with essential products and services. We continue to invest in talent, systems and strategic partnerships to enhance intra-group synergies, accelerate organic growth and facilitate the integration of future bolt-on acquisitions.”

“The team took control of the refinancing from start to finish. Ian and team laid out a clear process, got up to speed on our business and industry quickly, got us in front of a number of potential lenders and acted as an expert and pragmatic sounding board during lender selection. Their extensive knowledge on the UK debt market and experience on similar deals have proven to be invaluable during this important milestone on our journey. With Santander we found ourselves a partner with the right balance of high-street credibility and entrepreneurial ambition. Our facility gives us sufficient flexibility to continue to invest in our existing businesses and add complementary businesses to the Group. We look forward to working together with Sean, Allan and the rest of the Santander team.” Jeroen van den Berge, CEO at IWS Group.

“Working with entrepreneurial businesses and high quality and driven management teams is what we are all about at The team and this has certainly been our experience with IWS Group and Tim and Jeroen. Started in the early days of lockdown, this was a complex project bringing together two businesses under one common ownership and arranging debt facilities to both facilitate this and provide a runway for further acquisitive growth. Through this process we have become trusted advisers to the business and are excited about working with Tim and Jeroen on the next steps of the IWS journey.” Ian Milne.

“We are delighted to provide IWS Group with this financing package. IWS Group is a high-growth company operating in a resilient sector and is increasingly diversifying into international markets. “Tim and Jeroen have executed their buy-and-build strategy successfully so far and we look forward to supporting their future growth ambitions.” David Dawber, Strategic Debt Solutions, Santander UK.