Stafford-based IT solutions business Stone Computers has received a £17.5m debt funding package from PNC Business Credit with the help of a team of Birmingham-based advisers led by corporate finance advisory business, Cattaneo LLP. Stone is a £85m turnover market leader in the supply of IT solutions to the public sector, providing a range of high quality hardware and software solutions and services to its customer base in education and, increasingly, to local government, NHS, emergency services and central government customers.
The company, which is led by CEO Simon Harbridge and CFO Mark Audin, employs 200 people at its state-of-the-art 100,000 ft2 assembly and distribution centre located to the south of Stafford. Stone appointed Cattaneo, whose team comprised Martyn Pilley and Sam Turton, to advise on new funding options to refinance its debt facilities in order to support its exciting growth plan.
Martyn Pilley of Cattaneo said,
“With Stone’s senior management team having only recently come together, and with a number of exciting initiatives on their plate, they appointed us to run the whole process of finding suitable growth funding which involved using our knowledge of the debt market to identify appropriate lenders and run a competitive process to structure facilities that support their growth plans.”
Mark Audin, Chief Financial Officer at Stone Computers, commented,
“As a management team we have developed a clear strategy for the business but were operating in a financial structure that lacked the flexibility we needed to drive the business forward. We are pleased to have selected PNC who showed great enthusiasm for our business and we look forward to working with them.”