Strategic deal facilitates expansion and leads to first UK bolt-on acquisition for US company
Following its role advising the shareholders of Amberstone Security Group Limited (Amberstone) in connection with the investment made by Argenbright Holdings LLC (Argenbright) earlier this year, Durham city’s leading law firm, Swinburne Maddison LLP, has advised Argenbright on its second transaction in the UK to re-establish its UK presence and to form the cornerstone of its European launch.
The acquisition of Team Valley-based The Protector Group (Protector) will complement Amberstone by providing security monitoring services and IoT-enabled integrated security solutions into the construction and critical national infrastructure sectors. The Protector Group will join Amberstone Security under the Argenbright umbrella retaining its own identity.
As a provider of complex and mission-critical security solutions to major sites throughout the UK, Protector is a perfect fit for Argenbright’s overall expansion strategy as Protector has a strong regional presence and immense national potential.
Jason Trigg, managing director of Amberstone, said: “There are a lot of parallels between the two businesses in that we are both entrepreneurial market disruptors who have always looked to change the narrative of the security industry and make the services on offer even more bespoke and customer-centric. It made perfect sense to bring The Protector Group under the Argenbright umbrella and join Amberstone in delivering innovative, IoT-enabled integrated security solutions. I look forward to working with the leadership team at The Protector Group in the years ahead.”
Commenting on how Swinburne Maddison advised the Amberstone shareholders in connection with the investment by Argenbright, and subsequently advised Argenbright on the Protector acquisition, corporate and commercial partner, Martyn Tennant, said:
“We were delighted to work with the Argentbright Group in connection with this transaction. Thanks to the strength and depth of our team and our experience in the sector (having previously advised on the disposal of Hadrian Technology Limited to Marlowe plc) as well as having worked on numerous transatlantic M&A transactions in recent years, we were well placed to advise the Amberstone shareholders regarding the strategic investment by Argenbright. Our performance during that first transaction led to a referral by the Amberstone shareholders, which resulted in working with Argenbright in relation to the Protector deal.”
The satisfactory completion of both transactions serves to demonstrate the breadth of partner-level expertise that the Swinburne Maddison team can offer clients from their Durham head office. Martyn and his two fellow partners in the Corporate team – Alex Wilby and Craig Malarkey – worked across both matters, with 9 other partners and lawyers from their Corporate, Commercial, Employment, Pensions and Real Estate teams providing transactional support where required.
Swinburne Maddison has enjoyed a hugely successful 2022, with unprecedented levels of recruitment across the firm, and the corporate and commercial team ranking 6th in the region for deal volume in the Experian MarketIQ report for H1 2022. This year also saw its corporate and commercial team advise on the recent investment made by Accel-KKR, a leading technology-focused private equity firm, into Singletrack, a company that Swinburne Maddison has supported through its full life cycle – from start up to this milestone event.
Founded in 2009, Singletrack is an engagement, research management and analytics platform, purpose-built by industry professionals for capital markets, helping clients on both the sell and buy sides maximise revenue, efficiency and profitability. Based in London and with satellite offices in Newcastle and New York this investment will enable Singletrack to accelerate expansion plans into global markets and execute on strategic M&A.
Martyn added: “It has been an extremely productive year to date – and while we are only half-way through our financial year, which began on 1 May, revenue is up 14.6% on the same period last year. So, we are performing well in terms of achieving our strategic goals, expanding our team and enhancing our reputation, which all combine to lay firm foundations for the future.
“In terms of our strategic direction, we will continue to look at opportunities as and when they present themselves, but our immediate plan is very much continued organic growth with a focus on more senior-level recruitment across all teams.”
