Browne Jacobson has advised Foresight Nottingham Fund on its £1.75m investment in Positive Outcomes, a work-based training organisation; this represents the first investment made from the newly launched £40m Foresight Nottingham Fund.
The Fund will make private equity investments to support entrepreneurial and growth businesses based in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, and will be targeting up to 25 dynamic growth businesses in Nottinghamshire during its first 5 years.
It is an essential part of the Nottingham Growth Plan which sets out a series of measures for driving the city’s economy forward – and is a collaboration between some of the city’s key public and private sector organisations.
Positive Outcomes is a multimillion-pound work-based learning business. The company provides apprenticeships to more than 3,500 people, with about 50 per cent based in the East Midlands. As a condition of the Fund’s investment, Positive Outcomes will be relocating back to Nottinghamshire, where the company was founded, from South Normanton bringing 100 jobs to the area.
The MBO was led by chief executive Chris Longmate, with one owner moving to a minority shareholding and the other selling their shares and wholly exiting the business.
Corporate partner Mark Hughes, who led the Browne Jacobson team, said:
“We are delighted to have been asked to advise on the first investment from the Foresight Nottingham Fund. As a firm, we have always focussed on working with the local business community, with a view to supporting growth and investment in our region. This transaction is early testament to this Fund plugging the equity gap and supporting local entrepreneurial businesses”.
Browne Jacobson’s award winning corporate finance has recently been ranked the number one regional firm for corporate finance in Legal 500 and Chambers UK directories.
Other advisors on the transaction included Baker Tilly, Cooper Parry and Shakespeares.
