Richard Pepler

Optimum Finance provides funding support for MBO deal




Optimum Finance has provided funding to support a management buyout (MBO) by UK vegetation management, fencing and landscaping firm ATM.

The £350,000 deal was constructed by Clive Freeman, managing director at ATM, with his senior management team.

It followed an 18-month transition and saw ATM split from former parent company DeAngelo Bros with the support of private equity house Fresh Equity.

A turnaround and restructure plan culminating in the MBO was completed by the ATM team in May this year, with the remaining trade and assets of US-based DeAngelo Bros sold to trade investors.

The deal followed a period of strong growth which saw ATM nearly double turnover from £4.5m last year to a projected £8m–9m in 2019. 

This enabled the management team to partly fund the deal from the company’s cash reserves.

“ATM is a great example of the type of business we like to work with — [it is] ambitious and focused on future growth and understands the benefits that using invoice finance can provide in gaining immediate access to cash owed, enabling them to focus on growth,” said Richard Pepler, CEO at Optimum Finance (pictured above).

Clive added: “Using invoice finance to fund a deal of this nature is not typical, but shows what’s possible when looking for flexible funding options.”

Leave a comment