Gambit Corporate Finance, the mid-market corporate finance advisory firm, has announced that 2024 was a record year, continuing its momentum having achieved the same feat in 2023.
Established in 1992, the UK’s longest established independent corporate finance advisory firm led and advised on 16 transactions with a cumulative deal value exceeding £500 million.
Whilst the UK M&A market experienced some turbulence in 2024, due to continued macroeconomic headwinds in the form of geopolitical tensions, macropolitical issues and concerns over the likelihood of significant changes to the UK tax system, the firm’s impressive growth has continued.
Average EV/EBITDA multiples observed by Gambit were strong with solid fundamentals and a track record of resilience commanding premium valuations. This trend is expected to continue into 2025 and a growth in valuation multiples is anticipated for quality assets with high profit and revenue acuity. Whilst the widely reported decline in appetite of international buyers in the UK M&A mid-market occurred in early 2024, Gambit is experiencing increased international interest from particularly Northern European and US buyers.
Transactions that Gambit acted as lead advisor in 2024 included:
- Nodor International Limited – the investment by Inflexion Private Equity in the world’s leading group of premium darts brands including Winmau Dartboards and Red Dragon Darts. This is one of the most significant ever private equity transactions in Wales.
- Castell Howell Foods – advising a selling shareholder on the disposal of a material stake in one of Wales’ largest food and beverage businesses
- Clinica Baviera SA – advising the Spanish-quoted business that is one of the largest ophthalmology chains in Europe on its strategic entry to the UK market with the acquisition of Optimax. Optimax operates 19 clinics across UK major cities and specialises in eye surgery and ophthalmic services.
- Do-IT Holdings – advising the shareholders of the internationally recognised tech-for- good company that specialises in screening, assessing and supporting neurodiversity, on its sale to Lexxic, a portfolio company of Agathos Management LLP.
- Reducate EdTech Group – Reducate is a Dutch globally-recognised online continuing professional education platform and a portfolio company of All Seas Capital. Gambit advised the company on its acquisition of Oxford Medical Training and continues to advise on its UK buy-and-build strategy.
- Access Training – the MBO of the UKs leading provider of blended learning courses to UK tradespersons covering plumbing, gas and construction disciplines. The transaction is another example of the deep sector experience that the firm has in the Education & Learning sector.
- Komoo – advising the shareholders of Komoo, the UK-wide group of 17 vehicle fleet repair sites that focusses on vehicle rental and fleet business, on its sale to Steer Automotive Group, the portfolio company of Oakley Capital.
- Journey Hospitality – an e-commerce led software and services business that is transforming the independent hotel e-commerce market. Gambit advised the company on securing growth capital investment.
- Premier Forest – advice to its long-standing client on 4 strategic acquisitions in the value-added timber sector furthering the hugely impressive growth of the group, including Stairway Joinery and the business of Bitus UK including Continental Wood Products.
- Shufflebottom – acquisition by Embrace Steel Group of one of the UK’s largest independent providers of steel-framed buildings for industrial and commercial sectors.
- The London Mint Office – advising the business on securing a new funding facility from Omni Capital to support its continued growth.
- MWC Partners – the acquisition of the POS software and payments system business by Vesta Software Group, a subsidiary of Constellation Software, an international software company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Global reach
Gambit is the exclusive UK shareholder in Corporate Finance International (“CFI”), a group of global corporate finance advisory firms with 28 offices in 18 countries and some 300 fee earners. CFI enables Gambit and its clients to identify and directly access buyers, sellers and investors on a global basis, which gives the firm unparalleled international reach via direct local relationships, which Gambit’s peer group are unable to replicate.
In 2024, CFI completed in excess of 100 transactions and more than 30% of these were cross border. CFI was ranked by Thomson Reuters as number 18 in Europe and in the top 30 globally for transactions up to €200 million in value.
In May 2024, Gambit hosted the bi-annual CFI conference in London. Over 60 CFI colleagues from Europe, North and South America and APAC attended and met with 12 acquirors who have a global M&A strategy as well as focusing on adding value to clients worldwide. During the year, Gambit colleagues also participated in CFI conferences in India and Portugal as well as a dedicated Business Services sector M&A conference in The Netherlands.
Team development
Gambit invested significantly in its team in 2024 and is the largest headcount that the firm has had.
Three new Partners were appointed in 2024:
- Rob Wallace – who joined the firm from Deloitte after a 14 year career. He was a Director in the lead advisory M&A team and has advised on transactions from £5 million to £500 million. He has deep sectoral knowledge of the building products sector.
- Sam Forman – Sam commenced his career at Gambit and has ten years of M&A experience. He was awarded the ICAEW Corporate Finance qualification and leads Gambit’s focus on the IT sector and Consumer Goods sector and also co-leads Gambit’s relationships with CFI.
- Simon Marsden – has 25 years of M&A experience in multiple sectors and qualified as a FCA with KPMG. Simon co-leads the firm’s Business Services sector team.
Other new colleagues joining the team in the year were:
- Cen Thomas (Director) – who joined from Deloitte. Cen is FCA qualified and has over 15 years of corporate finance experience in a wide variety of sectors both in the UK and internationally.
- Sam Farrell (Director) – joined the firm with over 17 years of corporate banking experience with the Lloyds Banking Group and Santander. His experience instructured finance, credit and coverage adds significant value to the Gambit DebtAdvisory team.
- Kate Jones (Manager) – has five years M&A experience and qualified as an ACA with Deloitte.
- Leo Crawford (Analyst) – graduated from Cardiff University in Economics and joined the firm as an Analyst.
- Vicky Dorgan (Office Manager) – an experienced Executive Assistant, Vicky has over 25 years’ experience managing offices for large organisations in the retail, power and healthcare industries.
In addition, Gambit was proud to announce the promotion of Sean David to Executive during the year. Further hires will be announced in H1 of 2025.
Award winning
The firm was again recognised by Insider Magazine in its 2024 Dealmaker Awards, with the firm being awarded the Corporate Finance Advisory Team of the Year for 2024. It is the fourth time the firm has won the award in the past five years.
Geraint Rowe was awarded the coveted Dealmaker of the Year award. It is the sixth occasion that Geraint has won this prestigious award and it is testament to his contribution to the Welsh and UK M&A market.
Frank Holmes, Partner, said:
“We are very proud that Gambit achieved its best ever year in its 32 -year history, despite some turbulence in UK M&A markets. We have invested heavily in the growth of the firm and we have a team of unprecedented quality and size. This, coupled with our unmatched global reach via Corporate Finance International means that we are expecting the momentum generated in 2024 to continue. Thank you to our clients and transaction partners including solicitors and accountants for their continued support.”
Jason Evans, Partner and Head of Debt Advisory, said:
“The abundance of capital held by private equity funds, venture capital investors, debt funds and acquisitive companies, coupled with a lowering cost of capital and more stable macroeconomic landscape is fueling a recovery in M&A volumes and debt capital markets, where interest has certainly returned for well-prepared borrowers, with appetite for cash-out transactions such as dividend recapitalisations being far more prevalent now than in recent years.”
