Maidenhead: Wilson Partners advises Connection on HEL deal

Wilson Partners Corporate Finance advised Connection Capital on its £5.9 million investment in HEL, providing financial and tax due diligence, locked box support and assistance with tax clearances.

HEL’s managing director Jasbir Singh said: “Having Connection Capital’s backing is a major next step for HEL. As well as delivering financial investment to help us continue our growth trajectory, they are also supporting us in a number of other important ways including identifying a new, high quality chairman to help drive the business forward.”

Luke Matthews of Connection Capital added: “With no bank debt involved, the structure of the deal was also attractive to our clients. It was seen to be an investment with a lower than normal private equity risk but with strong investment fundamentals of a recurring paid interest stream from a highly cash generative business, with the prospect of sharing in HEL’s growth.”

HEL is based in Borehamwood, but also has offices in the US, India and China and employs 51 staff and contractors. Founded in 1987 by Jasbir Singh, HEL exploited a market opportunity to manufacture and engineer hazard testing equipment to improve safety in chemical processing while scaling up production.

The business, which now supplies institutions from chemical companies to academic bodies, including clients such as Pfizer, GSK and The University of Cambridge, typically offers products such as “reaction stations” which are used to detect thermal hazards or use catalysts to test chemical reactions.

Connection Capital is an investment firm which pools together money from wealthy private clients to help them invest in asset classes such as private equity and litigation funding, where the average cheque size for an investment would usually be beyond their reach.

Luke Matthews said: “Dan and his team were a pleasure to work with, highly responsive and a real partner through the whole of the deal process. They showed great understanding of what investors really need, with an ability to put things in commercial context, and we are very grateful for their help in bringing this transaction to a successful completion.”

Dan James, head of transaction services at Wilson Partners, added: “Delighted to have worked with the team at Connection for the first time; very pragmatic, commercial, deal-doers. In HEL they have invested in a niche, highly technical business with strategic growth potential.”