Four International Deals Completed in the last 12 months
In the last twelve months, Hornblower has completed four international deals, our last one being just last week:
- The sale of a AU$ 24m construction and engineering company in Queensland, Australia. The company was sold to a major civil engineering and construction group in Australia. The deal completed within 8 months of our approaching the market.
- The acquisition of two refractory engineering companies in Denmark with combined revenues of 4m Euros bringing together two competing companies into our client’s US group.
- The sale of a AU$ 2.5m civil and structural engineering consultancy based in Western Australia. The business was acquired by trade buyer based in Australia.
With the globalisation of many industry sectors, including construction and the related professions such as civil and structural engineering, the activity in international M&A is growing. Whilst much of this is between large scale corporations, there is a growing demand for smaller UK companies from around the world. The market for buyers of your business, whether based in the UK or elsewhere, is expanding internationally, as mid-sized companies seek to establish a global presence.
Hornblower is certainly forging a reputation as an international brokerage. What this means for sellers of businesses in the UK, is direct exposure to international buyers, leading to increased competition and higher deal values.
Our Australian clients came to Hornblower due to our London base and international reach and we approached potential buyers in the UK, mainland Europe, US and Canada, as well as in Australia. This resulted in an extremely good level of enquiry with a number of good offers for our client to choose from. In both cases, the buyer with the best offer, both in terms of value and future for the retiring owner’s staff, was another Australian company, but it was certainly worthwhile opening up the market internationally. Having left no stone unturned, we and our clients were confident of having achieved optimum value.
