• Close Brothers Corporate Finance advised Metropolitan Venture Partners LP and the other shareholders of GroundSure on the disposal of GroundSure for £30 million in cash and £14m of deferred consideration to Emap Plc.
GroundSure is the leading provider of automated environmental risk screening solutions to the residential and commercial property sectors, offering an unrivalled combination of risk management at a cost effective price.
• GroundSure provides a wide range of solutions to its diverse customer base. The provision of services is possible due to its market leading historical land use database. Spearheaded by Paul Livett, CEO and Jaynie Macdonald, Marketing and HR Director, the company is expected to rapidly increase penetration into its key markets.
• The rationale for the disposal was to achieve an exit for Metropolitan Venture Partners and the other private shareholders and to capitalise on the strength of Emap’s sales and marketing channel to propel the business forward.
• After reviewing a range of options, Close Brothers Corporate Finance managed a competitive auction process achieving an enterprise value of £44m. The excellent result was achieved through the implementation of a transparent and bespoke process.
Commenting on the transaction:
“Close Brothers Corporate Finance displayed a level of commitment and professionalism that exceeded all of our expectations. They were available to provide us with high quality strategic advice and understood our business implicitly. The deal provides shareholders with an excellent return which goes way beyond our initial expectations and we are delighted with Close Brothers Corporate Finances'role in delivering this transaction.”
Paul Livett, CEO, GroundSure
“Emap have purchased a truly amazing asset with a first rate management team. Working with GroundSure and Metropolitan Venture Partners has been very rewarding and this transaction typifies the ability of Close Brothers Corporate Finance to overachieve against expectations in an auction process.”
Gareth Davies, a Managing Director at Close Brothers Corporate Finance
The GroundSure team at Close Brothers was Gareth Davies, Jonathan Arrowsmith and Matthew Taylor. To contact them please call Close Brothers Corporate Finance on +44 (0)20 7655 3100.