Cattaneo Corporate Finance has advised global marketing services consultancy ICP on its management buy-out backed by NorthEdge Capital.
ICP is headquartered in London with offices across Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The business provides digital marketing, digital asset management services, creative production and consultancy services to global brands, such as Mars, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Warner Bros. and CVS Aetna, supporting them to deliver their increasingly complex multi-channel marketing strategies.
NorthEdge is backing Christopher Grakal, ICP’s CEO, and his 250+ strong team, to accelerate the firm’s exceptional growth journey. Following the MBO, ICP will expand its existing client base, building on its reputation as a market-leading vendor of consulting and managed services in the marketing and creative operations space, with the intention to launch new services, and upscale its team to support the delivery of the growth plan. The business will continue to place strong emphasis on the development of its people, supplementing this with a number of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to attract and retain the top talent in the market.
The Cattaneo team of Scott Peters and Martyn Pilley provided corporate finance advice to the shareholders of ICP, including on their rollover into the new company. In addition, the team provided project management support and debt advisory services to NorthEdge, securing a competitive debt package from Santander.
Scott Peters, Director at Cattaneo, said:
“This is exciting news for ICP, the management team is hugely experienced and, with the support of a high-quality investor like NorthEdge, they will be able to expand ICP’s service offering for both existing and new clients. We’re delighted to have been part of their journey and wish them success in the next stage of their growth.”
Christopher Grakal, CEO of ICP, added:
“We’ve delivered a strong track record of growth over the last few years, including in the US, and we want to maintain this momentum. For us, finding the right partner for our next phase of growth was critical, and from the outset it was clear that the NorthEdge team understood our business and the market in which we operate.
The Cattaneo team have been working with us from the initial stages of the transaction and they were instrumental in delivering this deal. Their diligent and practical approach combined with their perseverance in driving the transaction was key to getting the deal over the line.”
NorthEdge led the investment from its Midlands office with Investment Director Kevin O’Loughlin supported by Partner Andy Ball, as well as Andrew Skinner, Ellie Wood and Mike Craven.
Kevin O’Loughlin commented:
“ICP is another business services investment in our portfolio that operates in an emerging and exciting market, with huge potential for growth and innovation. The e-commerce channel continues to grow in importance and, by extension, has increased the requirement for brands to adopt a multi-channel marketing strategy. ICP is well equipped to support brands with such strategies, and we are looking forward to working with the team to continue to grow the business internationally over the coming years.”
Senior banking facilities were provided by Simon Clewlow of Santander UK with Freeths providing legal advice.
NorthEdge was advised by Browne Jacobson (legal), Fairgrove Partners (commercial due diligence), WY Partners (financial due diligence), Stratton HR (organisational due diligence), Lockton (insurance due diligence) and KPMG (tax structuring). Legal advice was provided to ICP by Radius Law while the management team were advised by Forsters (legal) and JMW (legal).
