HSBC Leveraged Finance has completed a £19.5 million refinance of Trustmarque Solutions. This marks a new banking relationship for Trustmarque following the recent £43 million management buyout supported by Dunedin, the UK mid-market private equity firm.
This follows one month after Dunedin backed the £43 million buyout of Trustmarque, in a deal that saw Dunedin employ its trademark DebtBridge™ solution in order to ensure deliverability and certainty of debt funding for the company. This is the fifth deal in which Dunedin has used its DebtBridge™ product.
HSBC’s team was led by Tom Green, Director, with support from James Scholes, Associate Director. HSBC was advised by Eversheds’ Partner Kathryn Walters and Associate Paul Chanter on the transaction.
The transaction is the third for HSBC’s Leveraged Finance team in Leeds in recent weeks; the team has also supported ISIS Equity Partners’ investment in global specialist recruitment company Nigel Frank International and backed LGV Capital’s Liberation Group in its acquisition of six iconic Channel Island pubs.
Trustmarque has been in operation for over 25 years and provides technology and related services to over 1,200 clients including leading financial and retail institutions, systems integrators Capita, Fujitsu and Cap Gemini, the NHS, Ministry of Defence and a broad spectrum of local authorities and central government agencies.
Trustmarque is the leading supplier of software and consulting services to the UK Government and was the first reseller of Microsoft’s products to achieve Gold licensing status, a title that is reserved for their most trusted and successful partners. Its professional and consultative services enable organisations to optimise their IT resource, improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
The business employs 180 people at three sites in York (HQ), Bracknell and Edinburgh and recorded revenues of over £130 million for the year ended 31 August 2012. Dunedin’s investment will enable Trustmarque to expand its service offering and correspondingly, its customer base.
HSBC Leveraged Finance Director Tom Green said: “Trustmarque is a market-leading business with an excellent reputation and service offering for both the commercial and public sectors. Management are of the highest calibre and having built a relationship over the last 18 months, we are now looking forward to supporting the next phase of growth under their leadership. Dunedin’s DebtBridge™ solution provided the vendors with certainty of funding and we are pleased to be able to complete the refinance within only a few weeks of their original investment.”
Dunedin Partner Mark Ligertwood said: “Our DebtBridging™ solution enabled us to get the initial deal done quickly without having to wait for bank debt finance, and then we were able to secure optimal terms for the company following completion. We’d like to thank Livingstone’s experienced Debt Advisory team who efficiently delivered an excellent senior debt package, on the best terms, within a month of completing the acquisition, refinancing our DebtBridge™. HSBC have demonstrated a strong commercial understanding of Trustmarque and the ambitions of the management team having tracked the business for some time."
Trustmarque Finance Director Vicky Godliman added: “The HSBC team was able to provision a banking facility that will fully support the needs of the business as we enter the next phase of our development. Tom Green and the team were supportive throughout the process, taking the time to gain knowledge of the manner in which the business operates to ensure that the deal they proposed was an excellent fit for Trustmarque.”
Dunedin’s investment in Trustmarque follows three strong exits and the £34.5 million management buyout of Premier Hytemp, all of which have been completed by Dunedin during the last twelve months. Dunedin has also completed a total of seventeen portfolio acquisitions since 2011.