La Salle are delighted to announce the completion of another deal 🤝 'Educational Resources & Training provider Creative Hut For Education, enters buy & build strategy via minority stake acquisition.' Founders Private Capital (FPC), which launched earlier this year, has backed Creative Hut, which has worked with Amazon and LEGO. The multimillion-pound deal is the private equity firm's first investment. Creative Hut company Background: Established in 2017 and based in Warrington, Cheshire; Creative Hut For Education Ltd are an established, market-leading provider of a range of STEAM-based learning products, resources and training. The company hold valuable reseller partnerships with Ed-Tech brands and run STEAM-based CPD training days and workshops for educators and pupils alike. They also have collaborated with education institutions and Premier League football clubs, notably St Malachy’s College, Everton FC, and Newcastle United FC, to create state-of-the-art ‘Learning Spaces’ to help young people prepare for the future. Deal Summary: The Shareholders at Creative Hut instructed La Salle to help identify investors and assist with a share sale of the company. Several potential acquisitors were sourced and Founders Private Capital emerged as the leading candidate. Their plan was to acquire a minority stake in Creative Hut and develop a buy & build framework. La Salle have also been retained to assist on the buy-side, sourcing new opportunities with a view to introducing new product and service offerings and generate new revenue channels to develop the group. La Salle Corporate Partner Matt Dillon stated: "We ran a very focussed sales process designed to introduce a small selection of parties that we felt would meet the company’s requirements from both a cultural and funding perspective. "FPC met the requirements, and we now look forward to helping both the company and FPC seek further acquisition opportunities in the sector." Creative Hut Founder Gareth Boldsworth commented on the deal: "We are seeing significant demand from firms for our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and STEM outreach programmes, designed to prepare young people for tomorrow’s careers alongside delivering purpose-driven community impact. FPC quickly identified the core values of Creative Hut in our discussions and aligned with our vision to provide support and infrastructure to accelerate the number of students and teachers we impact worldwide on an annual basis. We look forward to working with Ravi Sharma and the team over the coming years." Gareth added comments on La Salle: "The support we received from La Salle was exceptional. Matt played a pivotal role in keeping us on track and providing unwavering support throughout every step of the journey. His dedication, expertise, and meticulous attention to detail ensured a smooth and successful process. They gave us lots of different options and were patient, knowledgeable and easy to work with during the decision-making process. Thanks to Matt and the entire La Salle team, we felt confident and well-guided at every turn. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner in this significant milestone for our company and I would recommend them to anyone who is about to embark on a similar journey. A true service-oriented organisation." Ravi Sharma of Founders Private Capital added: "We are really excited to work with Gareth and the Creative Hut team going forward. The team have developed a STEM education-led CSR service offerings which have unique appeal to large enterprise businesses looking to meet their CSR requirements. "We have seen some really great traction over the last 12 months and look forward to supporting management in driving growth both in the UK and internationally." Advisors: Corporate Finance (to Creative Hut) – La Salle Corporate (Matt Dillon) Legal – Hill Dickinson LLP Financial/Tax Advisory – Williamson & Croft Read more about this deal on: Insider Media (La Salle have no control over media via external links)

The 2024 M&A Review, compiled by Experian MarketIQ, was released at the end of February and detailed UK merger & acquisition activity during 2024. As in previous years, we've extracted the data and fed it into our long-term review. This helps us to get a broader picture of M&A activity, to identify growing or contracting sectors, and to see the impact of geopolitical and global events on M&A, here in the UK. We can now review and compare 6 years of deal volumes and values. Originally, we planned to monitor the figures each year to see if a return to pre-Covid levels was evident. However, we've also had to factor in the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and the impact that has had on global economies and subsequently, UK M&A. First up, we take a look at the volume of deals for 2024 and as far back as 2019... UK DEALS BY VOLUME - LAST 6 YEARS

La Salle are delighted to have advised Bedfordshire-based specialist care provider Vivre Care on the sale of the company to Elysium Healthcare, part of the global Ramsay Health Care Group, listed on the Australian stock exchange (ASX). Overview: Leading mental health service provider Elysium Healthcare has expanded its provision of specialist eating disorder services with the acquisition of residential care provider Vivre Care. Established in 2007, Vivre Care provides specialist support for people with severe eating disorders. Its services align with the NHS strategy of prioritising community-based treatment. Vivre Care also complements the existing specialist eating disorder pathways within the Elysium group for adults and young people across England and Wales. Joy Chamberlain, Chief Executive Offices at Elysium said: “I am delighted that Asha Mootoosamy and Vivre Care will be joining the Elysium family. I have been impressed by the quality of care and the delivery of successful outcomes enabling people to access the right care, in the right place at the right time." Vivre Care Director, Asha Mootoosamy, said: "Elysium Healthcare are synonymous with specialist eating disorder care and I am confident that they will support the services to go from strength to strength. I am also delighted to be joining the Elysium team to further develop the model of care.” La Salle Corporate were instructed as Vivre Care’s Corporate Finance advisor. Matt Dillon, Partner, La Salle Corporate added: “It was a pleasure to advise Asha on the sale of her company. It’s a fantastic business that provides a wonderful service to those in need. I’m sure the business will flourish under Elysium’s stewardship”. Company Profiles: Elysium Healthcare – Head Office: Borehamwood, Hertfordshire UK Elysium Healthcare, launched in November 2016, operates over 95 sites across England and Wales. It offers services for learning disabilities, neurological care and specialist mental health support, including secure services, CAMHS, rehabilitation, acute care and psychiatric intensive care. Elysium is part of Ramsay Health Care Vivre Care – Luton, Bedfordshire, UK Since 2007, Vivre Care has operated as a leading supplier g specialist supportive clinical management (RSSCM) of severe eating disorders. A well-trained team of 45 employees are deployed across 3 freehold care homes in Luton. Read more about this deal around the web: (La Salle have no control over media on external links) Elysium Website  Insider Media

How has M&A fared in the Specialist Healthcare sector in recent months?

UK regulators have overhauled their rules for companies looking to debut on the London Stock Exchange.

How has M&A fared in the Manufacturing sector in recent months?

The annual M&A Review, compiled by Experian MarketIQ, was released last week detailing UK M&A activity for 2023. As usual, we take a deeper look at the numbers and pick out the positive highlights that will help to navigate the M&A landscape for the coming months. To compare year-on-year figures for deal volumes and values isn’t going to produce anything we don’t already know. Nearly all sectors felt the pinch in 2023 and witnessed a decline in activity in some form. Where we believe the figures get interesting is when we look back a little further, comparing pre & post pandemic. This provides a much broader view of how each sector has grown or contracted which can help when looking forward or making plans to sell at the right time. With these latest figures we can compare a full five year period, so let’s get started… UK DEALS BY VOLUME - LAST 5 YEARS

The M&A industry trades in data and insight. So, there's an element of irony in that general opinion is summized by a limited amount of available information. Reading many articles in 2023 about the state of play in the M&A industry, and you will hear that high interest rates have made borrowing expensive, subsequently slowing the post-Covid surge in deal volumes and values. While the picture painted isn't all doom and gloom, the information used in this reporting is often limited to knowledge of the biggest deals at the top end of the market. What about the rest of the M&A markets? In a recent white paper offered by Finquest titled " The Next M&A Frontier: Navigating the Untapped Potential of the Lower Middle Market " there is a deeper dive into what is happening from both the purchasers and sellers perspective. The lower mid market (£5M-£150M revenues) accounts for around 30 times more companies than the top end (£150M+ revenues). Given the economic reasons impacting investments and borrowing, the focus for many purchasers and fund managers is to now look beyond the top 3 players in a sector and instead adopt a systematic 'buy-and-build' M&A strategy. Within the white-paper a survey was carried out detailing buyer interest (number of approaches made), and a separate survey of seller interest (willingness to have a conversation with an acquirer). When overlaying the results, the companies with the highest number of approaches ($50-100M revenue range), were the least willing to engage in conversation. Instead it was the $20-50M revenue bracket of companies that were more open to entertaining the idea.