Reading: Spectrum leads Alcumus refinance deal

Spectrum Corporate Finance has successfully led the re-capitalisation of the Alcumus Group on behalf of Sovereign Capital Partners in a deal involving the arranging and structuring of new debt facilities of £9 million.

Based in Aylesbury, the Alcumus Group is an investment vehicle backed by Sovereign Capital that operates in the risk management, compliance and certification sectors and consists of three companies all of which have been acquired by Alcumus since 2009. Alcumus is the UK market leader in the provision of occupational hygiene consultancy and one of a limited number of UKAS accredited audit and certification businesses in addition to providing web-based information management solutions for health and safety, compliance, audit and inspection. Alcumus provides its broad and multi-disciplinary range of services to more than 4,500 customers.

Having been approached by Sovereign Capital to provide debt advisory services for the re-capitalisation, working closely with the Alcumus management team Spectrum conducted an extensive business analysis, planning and presentation exercise generating considerable interest from a number of leading debt providers in a competitive process. Strong project management allied to a detailed and intimate understanding of debt markets and credit appetite enabled Spectrum to move at speed and conclude the deal in less than three months.

Anthony Livingstone, group finance director of the Alcumus Group, commented: “We intentionally set a very tight time-line to re-finance the business and introduce some bank debt in to our balance sheet.

"Spectrum reacted with great speed and agility, and played a crucial role in guiding and assisting the management team through all of the key project milestones. Our re-capitalisation was delivered on time, despite the Christmas period, and the terms achieved more than met our expectations. All in all, a great job.”

Ian Milne, partner at Spectrum Corporate Finance, said: “We were delighted to work with both Sovereign and the team at Alcumus and to demonstrate our credentials not only in our ability to navigate the debt markets and deliver under pressure, but in quickly understanding the business model and in building a strong relationship with the management team.”