Reading: Spectrum advises Sovereign Capital and Alcumus Group on acquisition of SM&MS

On behalf of Sovereign Capital Partners, Reading-based Spectrum Corporate Finance has successfully advised on the re-capitalisation and debt raise of £34 million for Alcumus Group, the multi-disciplinary provider of compliance and certification services, on the acquisition of Safety Management & Monitoring Services (SM&MS).

Based in Huddersfield, SM&MS offers a wide range of services to assist clients with their compliance requirements, such as fire safety, asbestos management and health and safety consultancy.

The acquisition of SM&MS further accelerates Alcumus’ penetration of legislatively-driven compliance markets, particularly around property and workplace risk. It is Alcumus’ fourth bolt-on acquisition since Sovereign’s investment began in 2009, which, combined with strong organic growth, has resulted in the company increasing revenues by over 4.5 times.

This is the third time that Spectrum has successfully acted for Sovereign and Alcumus raising new debt facilities in support of their buy-and-build strategy.

Spectrum’s extensive contacts and in-depth knowledge of debt markets were key in securing a competitive and highly flexible debt facility from Alcentra that, in addition to financing the SM&MS acquisition within a very tight timetable, also provided a partial recapitalisation within the overall transaction.

Ben Stringer, CFO, Alcumus Group, commented: ''Spectrum were a genuine business partner in helping us secure the debt facility and associated terms that best suited our business needs.”

Dyson Bogg of Sovereign Capital commented: ''Once again we were extremely pleased with the service and support received from Ian and the team at Spectrum in delivering a strong debt package on very attractive terms.”

Ian Milne, managing director of Spectrum Corporate Finance, added: "We were delighted to have the opportunity to work once again with Sovereign and the team at Alcumus and to help them achieve the next key milestone in their on-going growth and development plans.

"Alcentra proved to be supportive, commercial and highly responsive throughout the process. The selection of Alcentra as our debt partner again demonstrates Spectrum’s deep understanding of currently available debt solutions and offerings, and our ability to identify and work with a wide range of debt providers which we believe is a genuinely differentiated and added value service for our clients.”