THE DEAL:
The first Employee Owned buy-out in the sector. The Avidity Employee Ownership Trustee Limited (“AEOTL”) has initially been funded by Idea Catalyst Limited, an existing shareholder of Avidity, with the intention that AEOTL will own 60 percent of Avidity with Idea Catalyst owning the balance.
Headquartered in the Midlands, Avidity is a firm of European Patent and Trade Mark attorneys with offices and specialist teams located in Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, Cambridge and the Thames Valley.
The offer from AEOTL provided the two founding shareholders with an exit route and an opportunity to create an employee owned structure that recognises the importance and contribution of the Avidity staff to its future success and provides a mechanism for them to share in that success.
OUR ROLE:
We advised on the Takeover Offer and the structuring of the transaction. The structure of the offer went through several iterations over a long period of time to not only comply with the regulatory requirements and optimise the tax benefits for selling shareholders but also to reflect improvements in the performance of Avidity following a re-organisation. The final result was 100 percent acceptance of the offer within the initial offer period.
WHAT OUR CLIENT SAID:
‘Cattaneo LLP acted on behalf of the Trustees of our ‘Employee Ownership Trust’ in the acquisition of a majority shareholding in our Company, Avidity IP Group PLC, a firm of European Patent and Trademark Attorneys.
Throughout the arrangement and execution of the acquisition, which unexpectedly changed structure multiple times (at our request), Cattaneo acted promptly, efficiently, and with great expertise and enthusiasm in guiding us towards the successful completion of the deal. Whilst the process was delayed by the shareholders, and therefore took much longer than anticipated, Cattaneo continued to act in an exemplary manner, above and beyond the scope of their original engagement, and in our best interests at all times.
The Trustees are extremely grateful to both Charles and Ian for their support during the acquisition. We have placed on record, both formally and in briefings with our staff, our commendation that their invaluable support went above and beyond what we had expected.’
David Johnston & Anthony Williams, Trustees – Avidity Employee Ownership Trustee Limitedy
