Opus is delighted to have advised the shareholders of Wattics on its sale to EnergyCAP, a portfolio company of Resurgens Technology Partners.

Wattics is an energy management analytics and monitoring platform that allows energy and sustainability professionals to manage, monitor, and analyse energy, commodities, and related data from a single dashboard. Wattics uses advanced software algorithms to analyse raw energy measurements and uncover anomalous energy usage in appliances, equipment or entire buildings, enabling real-time notifications and alerts to unusual behaviour and consumption trends. Wattics’ customers have consistently achieved savings greater than 20% in commercial/industrial buildings. The company is headquartered in Dublin.

EnergyCAP, headquartered in Pennsylvania, is a leading provider of Energy and Sustainability enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, empowering customers with full control and understanding of their energy and sustainability data to reduce their carbon footprint and drive savings.

This transaction extends Opus’ track record in energy software, in particular relating to energy efficiency in the built environment, following the sale of DEXMA in 2020.

Opus is delighted to have advised Cinven on the $2.6b acquisition of Bayer Environmental Science Professional (BESP), a division of Bayer AG.

Cinven have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BESP, a global leader in specialty pest management across a range of end-markets. BESP has an extensive product portfolio to manage pests (such as rodents, pest insects and invasive weeds) in a sustainable and responsible manner, including for the vegetation management, range and pasture, forestry and turf and ornamentals markets. Cinven shares management’s ambitious growth agenda and views BESP as a platform investment, with scope to grow the business significantly and broaden its product portfolio through acquisitions and strategic partnerships. The deal also allows Bayer to focus on streamlining its crop science division.

Headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, BES has global operations with c.800 employees c.2000 product registrations, sold in more than a 100 countries and 4 R&D centres worldwide. 

This is another market leading global transaction and milestone in Opus’ Chemicals franchise.

Opus Corporate Finance LLP is delighted to have advised the shareholders of Rendall & Rittner on its sale to SBC, a portfolio company of Fidelio Capital.

Rendall & Rittner is the largest independently owned residential property management company in the UK with an exceptional portfolio of over 80,000 units under management including some of the most prestigious and high-quality buildings across London and the United Kingdom. Key services and strategies within the firm include their innovative approach to management and customer service, dedication to corporate social responsibility, and investment in their staff to offer a focused and high quality service to their clients and lessees.

SBC is Sweden’s leading independent property manager targeting housing cooperatives which offers financial and technical management as well as legal services. The combination of SBC with Rendall & Rittner unlocks a wealth of knowledge, experience, and technology across the residential property management sector between the businesses enabling enhanced service provision to their clients and creating a multinational leading business in this growing space.

This is an important cross border transaction for Opus’s Built Environment team resulting from our broad base of relationships and insight within the industry, building upon other transactions including the recent sale of serviced office provider Busworks and the sale of building energy efficiency software provider DEXMA Sensors. The team continue to see rapid growth across the sector, particularly sub segments with significant investment across PRS, new technologies throughout Proptech, and increased levels and quality of service provision across the Real Asset spectrum.

We look forward to working with clients old and new in the coming months and to adding to our recent successes in the sector in 2022.

For further information please do not hesitate to contact: Nigel McNelly, Keegan Harris or Daniel Barley. We would be delighted to hear from you.

Opus Corporate Finance LLP is delighted to have advised AURELIUS on the sale of Wychem to Ascensus Specialties LLC., a portfolio company of New Mountain Capital and Wind Point Partners.

Wychem is a leading UK-based manufacturer of fine chemicals for pharmaceutical and specialty applications. Using its own process technology, Wychem manufactures starting materials and multi-step intermediates for the synthesis of pharmaceutical APIs and other advanced technology applications. Wychem manufactures over 1,000 products and specialises in the production of aromatic compounds and halogenation.

Ascensus is a leading US-based provider of specialty materials for life sciences and advanced technology markets. It is the global leader in borohydride, borane and specialty alcoholate reagents, CVD/ALD precursors, and high-purity APIs and cGMP materials. This transaction complements Ascensus’ existing capabilities and reinforces the company’s focus on servicing the pharmaceutical sector.

This is an important transaction for Opus, adding to its recent success in the chemicals sector.

For further information please contact: Chris Carlisle, Michael Mizon, Thalia Ilsen Nunn

The Opus Built Environment Team is delighted to have advised Busworks on its sale to Workspace Group PLC, London’s leading provider of flexible office space, for a total of £45m.

Busworks has thrived under its founder Gillian Harwood and is located in a former Victorian bus factory on 1.6 acres in Islington. Busworks provides 104,000 sq. ft. of net lettable space for occupiers, including a range of dynamic early-stage growth businesses.

Opus worked closely with Gillian and the Busworks shareholders supporting the preparations for the business sale and the engagement with potential purchasers, resulting in the selection of Workspace as a preferred buyer capable of maximising the exciting potential of the Busworks facilities and business.

This is an important transaction for the Built Environment Team and we look forward to working with existing and new clients on further opportunities in the coming months. Nigel McNelly and his team would be delighted to talk to you – do please get in touch.

Opus is delighted to have acted as financial advisor to Baringa Partners on a new, long-term partnership with BlackRock and the sale of its Climate Change Scenario Model (CCSM), an industry leading climate scenario model developed utilising Baringa Partners’ capabilities and specialist experience in advising government, energy, and financial services clients on climate risk over the past 20 years. The CCSM is currently used by clients who have assets totalling more than $15 trillion, assisting them with climate risk and the reallocation of capital to achieve net zero emissions.

BlackRock’s acquisition of the CCSM will allow the model to be integrated into Aladdin Climate, part of its Aladdin platform, an end-to-end portfolio management, risk management and operations platform used by institutional investors, including asset managers, pension funds, insurers, banks and corporate treasurers.

The new long-term partnership is a significant milestone for both firms, as they collaborate to set the standard for modelling the impacts of climate change and the transition to a low carbon economy on financial assets for investors, banks and other clients.

This partnership between Baringa Partners and BlackRock is a significant transaction for Opus bringing together our capabilities advising on complex M&A / partnership transactions with our expertise in energy transition and climate change, as well as our focus on asset management, in particular, ESG driven businesses.

For further information please contact: Colin Christie, John McElroy, Stuart Schofield, Michael Mizon and Tom Rahman.

Opus is delighted to have advised Ecotricity on the sale of the Electric Highway, the UK’s first nationwide electric vehicle charging network. The sale of Ecotricity’s remaining 75% interest in the Electric Highway follows the March announcement of the formation of a partnership with GRIDSERVE and its acquisition of a 25% stake.

GRIDSERVE’s acquisition will lead to a major upgrade of the network, transforming electric vehicle charging facilities on Britain’s motorways and major roads. The upgrade will be funded by Hitachi Capital, a shareholder in GRIDSERVE.

This is an important development in the UK EV charging market and is Opus’ second major transaction in the sector having also advised ChargePoint Services on its sale to Engie.

For further information please contact: Stuart Schofield, John McElroy, Malcolm Strang and Joanna Chen.

Opus has advised vertical farming pioneer Jones Food Company (“JFC”) on raising growth capital, including further investment from existing shareholder Ocado.

JFC designs, builds and operates commercial scale vertical farms in the UK. The investment will be used to fund the next phase of JFC’s growth, including accelerating R&D and construction of JFC’s second farm, JFC2, in Gloucestershire. JFC2 is expected to be the world’s largest vertical farm with over 14,000m2 of automated growing space.

Stuart Schofield, Michael Mizon and Thalia Ilsen Nunn advised on the transaction, building further on Opus’ strong track record in the Energy Transition and Climate Change sector.

Opus Corporate Finance LLP is delighted to have advised the shareholder of VetUK on its sale to VetPartners. VetUK is one of the UK’s biggest online suppliers of pet care products, including toys, accessories, pet food, over-the-counter pet treatments and veterinary prescription medicines. Since its inception in 2005, VetUK has handled 3.5 million online orders and dispatches 2,500-3,000 orders each day. The company has experienced significant growth of 45% in sales and profitability in the last year, driven by the pandemic, the resultant increase in pet ownership and the surge in online retail activity.

VetPartners, also headquartered in the North of England, is a network of veterinary practices and hospitals and other animal-service practices, including nursing schools and laboratories, located throughout the UK and with recent expansion into Europe. The acquisition of VetUK will enable VetPartners to expand services for clients at its 160 practices with more than 500 sites across the UK, thus improving client experience, whilst still maintaining the high quality efficient service offered by VetUK.

This is an important transaction for Opus, combining our knowledge and experience of the traditional retail and consumer sector with our continuing focus on online retail.

For more information please contact: Clifford Halvorsen, Thalia Ilsen Nunn, Nigel McNelly and Daniel Barley.

Opus is delighted to have advised Ecotricity in connection with its major new collaboration with GRIDSERVE, which will transform electric vehicle charging facilities on Britain’s motorways and major roads.

The partnership with GRIDSERVE will help to accelerate the upgrade of Ecotricity’s Electric Highway charging network, firstly replacing all existing chargers with new technology and then adding a further 6 to 12 350kW high power chargers to locations. The upgrade will be funded by Hitachi Capital, a shareholder in GRIDSERVE. GRIDSERVE has also acquired a 25% stake in the Electric Highway.

This is an important development in the UK EV charging market and is Opus’ second major transaction in the sector having also advised ChargePoint Services on its sale to Engie.

For further information please contact: Stuart Schofield, John McElroy, Malcolm Strang and Joanna Chen.