THE DEAL:
The £17.5m debt refinancing of Stone Computers. Stafford-based Stone Computers, which is owned by its management and private equity firm, RJD Partners, is an £85m turnover market leader in the supply of IT solutions to education, local government, NHS, emergency services and central government customers. Stone was seeking to refinance its debt facilities to support its exciting growth plan. After a competitive process PNC Business Credit was chosen to provide a structured £17.5m asset-based finance package.
OUR ROLE:
We were appointed by Stone to advise on its options for restructuring its debt facilities to improve cash flow, increase working capital headroom and to more closely match facilities to the seasonality of the business. Based on our experience and knowledge of the debt market we short-listed those lenders which we expected to have both the product suite and appetite for the transaction and then, following the preparation of a financing memorandum, ran a tightly controlled competitive process to solicit credit backed offers of finance. By working with our client and prospective lenders we were able to develop those offers into a debt package which was structured to refinance the term loan and provide committed three year facilities.
WHAT OUR CLIENT SAID:
‘I felt that the Cattaneo team not only had the market knowledge and technical expertise required to introduce appropriate lenders and structure the right package, but that they would provide the attention to detail we were looking for as well as possessing the tenacity to drive the process through efficiently.
‘All parties communicated well and worked seamlessly together to deliver a successful outcome. As a result, our ability to capitalise on our excellent reputation and continue our growth both within education and, increasingly, in other public sector markets has been significantly enhanced.’
Mark Audin, Chief Financial Officer, Stone Computers
