Dealmaker on the hunt for growth buyouts
Inflexion Private Equity is looking across the Irish Sea for opportunities. Partner Tim Smallbone tells Insider his firm is interested in growth buyouts between £10m and £100m.
Smallbone says Inflexion, which has offices in London and Manchester, has been over to Dublin and Belfast and will continue to travel there.
"We're looking for growth buyouts. Overall there's a lot of equity houses looking for deals and it would be negligent not to look in Ireland," he says.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if another bunch of competitors were doing the same as us which is looking for good businesses. We've all got a different format to what we're looking to do.
"We're looking for growth buyouts of a value between £10m and £100m and there are a lot of good businesses in Northern Ireland which are well worth a look. There's entrepreneurs there looking for capital and we're looking for deals wherever we can find them."
Smallbone joined Inflexion in 2004 establishing the private equity house's Manchester office. He had previously worked at Montagu Capital, Gresham Private Equity, Granville Private Equity as well as KPMG Corporate Finance, where he led buy-side advisory services to private equity firms in the north of England.
Asked if there specific issues with raising finance in Northern Ireland, Smallbone said different regions within the UK had the same obstacles to raising funds but good companies would still be able to secure finance from the banks albeit at a more expensive rate.
"I've looked at deals all over the UK and from what I can see, the issues are the same wherever you go which is the banks are much more risk averse."
He adds that many equity houses have raised capital which they are anxious to employ so "it's a good time to have a business which you're prepared to sell".
"If it's a good business with a management story and a growth story you will find there is equity interest in that business."
Smallbone is a panellist at Insider's Northern Ireland Business of Finance conference in March.
Also signed up for the event, which will introduce investors with access to £4bn of capital, are the Business Growth Fund's regional director for Northern Ireland, Andy Gregory, Pete Clarke from ISIS Equity Partners, Fearghal O'Riordan from Scottish Equity Partners and CBPE Capital partner Anne Hoffman.
They join keynote speaker, entrepreneur Graham Hallworth, and Grainne Kelly, finalist in the Entrepreneur of the Year programme for Ireland 2011, at the event which takes place on 29 March at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.
