FRP acquires Reading-based Spectrum Corporate Finance in £9.4 million deal

By Nicky Godding

2 March 2021

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Corporate finance company FRP has acquired Reading-based Spectrum Corporate Finance in a deal work more than £9 million.

Founded in 2010 by Simon Davies, Clive Hatchard and Ian Milne, Spectrum is the largest independent corporate finance and debt advisory firm in the South of England. It provides strategic support and advice for owner-managed businesses and their funders across the UK mid-market from its offices in Reading and London, with particular focus on the central South, South East and London markets.

As part of the transaction, all 27 employees will join FRP. This includes Spectrum’s Co-Founders, in addition to Mark Farlow, Simon Sherliker, Darren Miller and James Mines who all join FRP as Partners. They will be joined by 12 fee earners, four Research Analysts and four colleagues in support services.

In 2020, Spectrum’s Corporate Finance team advised on 25 completed transactions with a combined deal value of more than £900 million. This included advising on the acquisition of VIPR by Tenzing Private Equity, the sale of Babble on behalf of LDC to Graphite Capital, and the sale of Reading-based Porterhouse Medical to imc group, in a deal backed by Waterland Private Equity.

Geoff Rowley, CEO of FRP, said: “Spectrum is a fantastic business and the team has built a strong reputation, particularly within the UK private equity community, for the quality of service it provides to its clients. We have a strong cultural alignment and this deal not only strengthens FRP’s position in the UK mid-cap transactional advisory market, it enables our combined teams to continue supporting clients post COVID-19 as we help to address both their strategic ambitions and provide support as challenges arise.

“The deal also follows our acquisition of JDC Group in September last year, cementing our position as a truly national provider of corporate finance and debt advisory services. We are genuinely excited about the contribution the Spectrum team will make to FRP and are looking forward to working together as we support our clients across the UK.”

Simon Davies, Co-Founder of Spectrum, added: “We are delighted to have found in FRP a partnership that shares our values of professionalism, quality, entrepreneurial spirit and achieving the best possible outcome for clients. We are immensely proud of what we have achieved at Spectrum over the past 10 years, and as a new chapter starts with FRP, we are excited at the opportunities this new partnership presents for our team and our clients. We are looking forward to continuing to grow our corporate finance and debt advisory businesses nationally, as a combined group.”

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.