IMAS acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Maybury James Limited, the holding company for Peter D James and Stewart Miller, McCulloch & Co, on its sale to Vantage Insurance Services (“Vantage”), the specialist broker and underwriting agent owned by NSM Insurance Group, a US speciality broker.

IMAS was retained to find a buyer for the business that would allow management to continue its development and allow them to realise their investment. We identified Vantage as one of the potential acquirers following their sale to NSM Insurance, providing them with the resources and development interest to pursue acquisitions.

Peter James Insurance and Stewart Miller Insurance both specialise in the classic car sector, providing insurance cover for both classic cars, motorcycles and the classic car commercial and trade sectors.

IMAS acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Aquila on the sale of Vectura Underwriting to Nexus Group. Vectura Underwriting is a specialist Marine Cargo underwriting agent, and also a registered and approved Lloyd’s Coverholder.

IMAS was retained by Aquila to advise throughout the whole sale process, from stress-testing the business plan and to identifying a range of potential synergistic buyers, through to negotiating the final terms for the transaction. Being a sale of a business by an LLP, the transaction involved a number of features not usually encountered when selling a company to which providing solutions was a key determining factor for the success of the transaction.

Centtrip is an award-winning foreign exchange, payments and digital banking solutions provider for corporates and private clients, offering bespoke solutions for specific industry sectors including music and marine. IMAS provided advice on the preparation and marketing of the transaction and the company’s options in relation to the capital raise, including advice on alternative investors and proposals received.

IMAS worked with the directors of John Holman & Sons Holdings to structure the business and transaction to ensure that the purchaser achieved a clean transfer of the company and allow the John Holman Group and its subsidiary Sheraton Systems to continue separately under Andrew Holman’s leadership.

With the company having been in Holman family ownership for a considerable period of time, a detailed understanding of the business was required and practical solutions found to separate out assets and liabilities between the two parties. A long standing defined benefit pension scheme added further complexity to the transaction.

IMAS undertook a comprehensive review of the market and provided advice to the Board and management team on ownership options offering both the best terms for the shareholders and future for the business as well as close interaction with Alcuin and the various advisers through to completion.