Hill Dickinson advises shareholders of Active Supply Holdings on sale to IESA

International commercial law firm Hill Dickinson has advised the shareholders of Active Supply Holdings Limited Group on its sale to IESA Limited, the Gresham private equity backed business process outsourcer.

Founded in 1999 and based in Stoke on Trent, Active is a provider of indirect supply chain management services to large manufacturers and has particular capability regarding OEM supply chains in the aerospace, automotive and energy industries, with customers including Michelin, Rolls Royce, Siemens and Toyota. Active enjoyed a record year in 2016 with revenue exceeding £40 million.

IESA, with revenues of £180 million in 2016, also provides integrated procurement (sourcing and buying indirect goods) and operations (inventory and stores management), delivered through a cloud enabled and award winning technology platform. Strong across the UK and Ireland, IESA launched a German operation in 2014 and is expanding elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

Hill Dickinson corporate partner Ian Riggs acted for the shareholders of Active with assistance from James Down and Harriet Watson. The corporate team also acted on the Active management buyout in 2014.

Two of the three Active shareholders, managing director Richard Bennell and operations director Ian Whinray, have become IESA shareholders and joined the IESA management team.

Active managing director Richard Bennell commented:

“We’ve achieved massive growth in revenues since our management buyout in July 2014 and have recently set up a subsidiary in the Far East to take advantage of opportunities in those markets. We had no intention of selling Active - however, the case for merging Active into the IESA Group was convincing. There is such a great fit between our two businesses and the combined group will provide our clients with even more comprehensive and compelling solutions.”

Active chairperson Brian Lloyd added:

“Having founded Active in 1999 and having recently surpassed revenues of £40 million, I am hugely proud of what we have achieved. I am delighted that Active has become part of the IESA Group and have no doubts that the enlarged business will prosper and thrive going forward. Whilst the case for putting the two businesses together was compelling, the process to complete the sale was complex and took many months and I am grateful to Strategic Corporate Finance, Hill Dickinson and DTE Group for their advice and help in finding solutions that led to a successful transaction.”

Commenting on the transaction, IESA CEO Glenn Timms said:

“I am delighted that we have been able to consummate this combination as Active is an organisation that we have admired for some time, particularly with regard to its sector and OEM expertise. Since IESA’s inception in 2001 and particularly since our MBO in 2012, our disruptive indirect supply chain model and associated award winning technology platform has been gaining increasing traction in the market place, both historically in the UK and Ireland, and more recently across Continental Europe and beyond. Following our revenue reaching £180 million last year, we are currently enjoying a record year for new business wins, and the IESA platform now supports in excess of 70 major clients and over 27,000 vendors. Looking to the future, as we extend a warm welcome to our new colleagues and move to combining Active’s strengths with those of IESA, this will help to ensure that we accelerate the growth of our enlarged organisation”.

Hill Dickinson corporate partner Ian Riggs added: “It has been a pleasure working with Active’s senior team again. Active has gone from strength to strength since its management buy-out in 2014 and joining the IESA Group will enable the company to continue this success. We wish both parties the best of luck for the future.”