The deal will see Soho take a minority equity stake in the business and David Steel, director at Soho, will also join the board of the company. The existing Arcus management team will remain majority equity shareholders, led by CEO Chris Green.
Arcus was formed in 2009 as part of a joint venture with UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's.
This is the second transaction completed from Soho’s latest institutional special opportunities fund.
Soho Sqaure Partners has backed the management buyout of UK-based facilities management group Arcus FM.
The deal will see Soho take a minority equity stake in the business and David Steel, director at Soho, will also join the Board of the company. The existing Arcus management team will remain majority equity shareholders, led by CEO Chris Green.
Arcus was formed in 2009 as part of a joint venture with UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's. It provides bespoke FM services and technology-led solutions for its clients in the retail, logistics and public sector.
The business has grown rapidly in recent years, helped by its relationship with Sainsbury’s, with £150m of revenues. Soho’s buyout will enable the group to accelerate its expansion plans.
Soho’s deal team was led by David Steel (director) and Stuart Hamilton (associate).
Steel said: “Arcus is already a very successful business led by an experienced management team. We were particularly impressed with the Arcus technology, especially the Helix integration platform, which has been specially developed in-house over a number of years.”
He added that the deal sits senior in the capital structure and is typical of the type of investment that Soho Square is pursuing in the UK and northern European markets.
The transaction is completed from Soho’s latest institutional special opportunities fund, following the investment in marine transportation provider Oslo Tankers in 2019.
Soho focuses on providing both flexible capital and dedicated portfolio company support for European SMEs.
Soho’s legal advisor was James Cross at K&L Gates. Grant Thornton provided buy-side financial advice to Soho (Usman Malik) in addition to financial, commercial and tax due diligence (Carl Parker, Ven Balakrishnan, and Lucy Orhnial). BDO Corporate Finance (Satvir Bungar) advised Arcus management shareholders on the transaction and identified Soho Square early on as a strong investor partner for Arcus.
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