Zeus acted as Joint Financial Adviser, Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker to Accrol Group Holdings Plc, on the £130.8m recommended cash offer from Navigator Paper UK Limited, a subsidiary of The Navigator Company, S.A.
Zeus has advised Accrol since June 2016, including acting on its AIM IPO and a number of subsequent M&A and fundraising transactions. Since its IPO, Accrol has more than doubled its revenue and strengthened its market share to 21.5% of the overall UK tissue market.
The offer represented a premium of 14.7% to Accrol’s closing price on 21 March 2024, and a 32.1% premium to its 3-month VWAP. The offer was approved by shareholder majority and sanctioned by the Court on 22 May 2024.
Advising Accrol not only on this transaction, but the original IPO and subsequent M&A acquisitions, demonstrates Zeus’ ability to support our clients across public and private markets.
Accrol
Accrol was established in 1993 by the Hussain family with the aim of becoming a leading independent manufacturer of toilet tissue in the UK.
Over the years, Accrol has successfully scaled its business to become the UK’s leading independent tissue converter with key relationships with major retailers throughout the UK, completing three earnings accretive acquisitions through Leicester Tissue Company (LTC), John Dale, and recently Severn Delta Limited.
Navigator
Navigator Paper UK Limited is a subsidiary of The Navigator Company, a large Portuguese integrated pulp, paper, tissue, packaging, and biomass-based energy company, listed on the Euronext Lisbon Stock Exchange with a current market capitalisation of c.£2.5bn.
Navigator is Portugal’s third largest exporter, accounting for c.1% of GDP, and Europe’s largest manufacturer of uncoated woodfree printing and writing paper, the sixth largest in the world. With a total annual production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of paper and 1.5 million tonnes of pulp each year, products are shipped to 130 countries in five continents and employs more than 3,000 direct employees.
Dan Bate
Investment Banking at Zeus“It was a pleasure to advise the Accrol management team on its sale to Navigator. Having first advised the company on its AIM IPO, and subsequently through a number of fundraisings and strategic acquisitions, Zeus has played a key role in Accrol’s journey from private equity ownership to public listing, culminating in this ultimate sale to trade.
This transaction marks the fifth public takeover Zeus has advised on in the past 18 months, highlighting our expertise in complex and cross-border M&A transactions involving public companies.
Accrol illustrates Zeus’ commitment to building long-lasting relationships with management teams and supporting companies through their next phases of growth. We extend our best wishes to the Accrol management team on their future plans and look forward to seeing Accrol’s continued success under Navigator’s ownership.”
Zeus Team
Members of the Zeus team included: Dan Bate, Jordan Warburton, and John Moran (Investment Banking); Dominic King (Corporate Broking).
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