A first success by recently launched Lighthouse Management Advisers is just the start, the team has pledged.
An alliance between Nick Johnson, corporate finance partner at Mazars in Birmingham, and private equity specialist John Handley, acting closely with corporate lawyer Guy Green of George Green LLP, Lighthouse Management Advisers says it is working on a pipeline of transactions and hopes to have more completed soon.
“This is an exciting new approach from seasoned and experienced Midlands professionals,” said Mr Johnson.
“We can offer a package of advice, working together to streamline the response to the corporate finance needs of management. We have hit the ground running, have had an excellent start and our offer is very different. You get all the bases covered from the outset.”
Lighthouse Management Advisers recently advised the executive management led by Mike Gordon in relation to Vitruvian Partners acquiring a majority interest in Healthcare at Home Ltd, the UK’s leading provider of clinical homecare services.
Vitruvian’s investment and a £100 million asset based lending facility from HSBC and RBS will enable the continued rapid development of the business.
Healthcare at Home has around 1,000 employees and served over 150,000 patients in 2011.
Mr Handley noted: “There are not too many deals of that size being done in the UK at present, never mind the Midlands, so it was an achievement of which we are proud.
“We are all focused on providing support and advice to management teams in private equity backed businesses.”
Expanding on why Lighthouse Management Advisers is so different, Mr Johnson added: “Lighthouse is an alliance of hands-on, highly committed and very experienced professionals. We do the work and provide the advice so the management team has timely, high quality support at all times.
“Lighthouse offers a special blend of corporate finance, private equity and legal experience. On any deal, management value can be gained or lost in many ways – with Lighthouse all the bases are covered in a highly effective and integrated manner.
“The Lighthouse advisers are truly independent and only focused on providing high quality management advice. As a team we have over 80 years of deal-doing experience. The Lighthouse proposition was formed because we recognised a lack of truly independent and joined-up advice available to management teams in situations where significant management value creation and erosion is at stake.
“We are confident this concept is a winner. Management teams have quickly grasped what we are doing and consequently we are progressing a number of new opportunities.”