Here we feature the latest equity investment and acquisition deals in Welsh business.
US tech giant Intertechnology has signed off on a £140m deal to acquire the 海角视频’s biggest semiconductor plant in the 海角视频 with plans for major expansion.
The 100% ownership deal for Nexperia Newport (which previously traded as Newport Wafer Fab), came after Nexperia were ordered to put its facility, which has capacity to produce more than 30,000 wafers a month, in Newport up for sale last year on national interest and security grounds by the 海角视频 Government.
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The Westminster administration used the Security and Investment Act to force a divestment. Amsterdam-based Nexperia is ultimately owned by Chinese company Wingtech Technologies.
The Newport fab is the 海角视频’s largest semiconductor fab with a long history in supplying components to the automotive and industrial markets.
Vishay plans to position the facility as a manufacturing centre of excellence for 200mm seminconductors with plans to invest £1bn over the next three years. It will focus on net zero decarbonisation and electrification through silicone carbide (SIC) - and other compound semiconductor capacity - power chips which are used in renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Joel Smjkal, president and chief executive of Vishay: said:“We welcome the highly skilled and dedicated employees at the Newport wafer fab into the Vishay family. Vishay is committed to investing in Newport to grow capacity, and to accelerate our SiC and GaN (gallium nitride) production and technology development as a new member of the compound semiconductor cluster in South Wales. We look forward to the contributions of Newport’s employees to our shared success.
“With the completion of the acquisition, we are now preparing to share our plans for Newport at our upcoming Investor Day on April 2.”
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Executive chairman of the New York listed business, Marc Zandman, said: “The acquisition of Newport aligns with the strategic shift the board envisioned with its decision to appoint new leadership. Under Joel’s leadership, Vishay is making this shift, investing in technologies and incremental capacity to drive faster growth and enhance returns to stockholders. The goal is to prepare Vishay to capitalise on the megatrends of e-mobility, sustainability, and connectivity
As a new member of the compound semiconductor cluster (CS Connected), Vishay plans to collaborate with local universities and others in the 海角视频 to enhance its research and development efforts on power compound semiconductors.
Vishay said: “Working in partnership with the Welsh and 海角视频 governments, we want to expand the site to enable new research and development and bring new technologies to market such as compound semiconductor power conversion (a more efficient technology than silicon-based semiconductors)”
Vishay plan to expand the workforce at the fab, which current employs around 400.
Newport West MP Ruth Jones said: “We have a brilliant workforce already, which is one of the reasons why a major American company like Vishay decided to invest £140m in Newport, to develop the 28 acre site in Duffryn, the biggest semiconductor factory in the 海角视频, safeguarding at least 400 jobs at the plant.
It’s good news for the hundreds of workers at the plant, but also there are plans to invest and expand in the future. For every job created in the semiconductor industry, another six jobs are created in the wider supply chain.”
A spokesman for Nexperia said: “Nexperia and Vishay announced they had entered into an agreement, in November 2023, that Vishay will acquire Newport wafer fab. We are now able to confirm that all conditions to the sale have now been met and the sale of Newport wafer fab to Vishay has now been finalised. Nexperia is pleased that the sale of Newport wafer fab to Vishay, has secured a future for its employees and for the site.”
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Wild Water
Temperature controlled storage and distribution venture serving the food and drink sector, Wild Water Group, has been acquired in a multi-million-pound deal.
The Cardiff headquartered business, which has a network of cold storage facilities across South Wales and the west of England has been acquired by real estate investment company Delancey.
The business was set up by Ken Rattenbury in 2012. Under his leadership it has expanded to eight cold storage sites located in Cardiff, Merthyr, Aberbargoed, Newport, Avonmouth, Plymouth, Southampton and Taunton.
The business also had a division providing ambient, chilled and frozen distribution of food including meat and fish products, as well as pharmaceutical and specialist packaging materials.
The acquisition, the exact value of which has not been disclosed, comes after Wild Water reported strong trading in 2023.
Mr Rattenbury said: “We are delighted to have found a partner in Delancey with the experience and capability to support Wild Water’s business growth opportunities to become a 海角视频 leading temperature-controlled distribution operation. I and fellow employees look forward to assisting Delancey enhance our customer offering on this next phase of the group’s strategic expansion.”
Wild Water’s shareholders were advised by Cardiff-based Gambit Corporate Finance and Acuity Law.
Frank Holmes, partner at Gambit, said: “This is a unique Welsh business which has extended its geographic reach to service local and 海角视频 wide customers across a variety of sectors, with huge growth prospects. We wish Delancey, Ken and his team at Wild Water huge success on this journey.”
Validient
Newport-based legal tech start-up Validient has secured a £300,000 equity investment to support its scale-up plans.
Its second investment round has seen fresh backing of £200,000 from the Development Bank of Wales and £100,000 from Wesley Clover.
Validient was established by entrepreneurs Ieuan Leigh, Katie Turnbull, Thomas Elliott and Gareth Williams after graduating from the Alacrity Foundation graduate entrepreneurship programme in 2021 - at which point the business was incorporated.
Having supported Cardiff-based law firm Capital Law, it now provides an automated compliance management and due diligence system for law firms and regulated businesses throughout the 海角视频. Its technology transforms client-facing processes by providing identity and document verification, biometric facial recognition, anti-money laundering checks, risk assessments, ongoing due diligence, company ownership structures, and bespoke client portals along with politically exposed person checks.
Its chief executive Ieuan Leigh said: “As a legal technology business, we offer compliance management software that allows regulated businesses to save time and reduce costs with end-to-end compliance requirements.
“Validient enables regulated firms to replace their existing manual and often paper-based client risk assessments and compliance actions with an easy to use single platform. This enables legal teams to have clearer oversight of who they are doing business with, keeping the community safe from fraudsters and money launderers. Securing this investment early in our development is vital to us becoming the leading compliance management system on the market.”
Hannah Mallen, assistant investment executive with the Development Bank of Wales said: “As a young and exciting business, with a hugely dynamic team, Validient is gaining great traction in the market and we’re delighted to be supporting them on their journey with funding from our Wales Technology Seed Fund. Our support and investment will enable the business to grow, and we wish the business every success for the future.”
Validient is the only Welsh tech company to get a place on the Lawtech海角视频 Programme, which is supporting its 海角视频-wide expansion plans.
Wesley Clover and the Development Bank of Wales invested £140,000 into the company in a first round of investment.
Flocon
Family-run business Flocon has completed company share buy-back, with expert advice from Cardiff law firm Darwin Gray.
One of South Wales’ leading distributors of products servicing the pipeline industry, Flocon has solidified its position as a market leader. The transaction has seen founders and brothers Nigel and David Phillips retire, with the future of the company remaining in the family with shareholders and directors, Craig and Andrew Phillips and Matthew Davies. The completion of the share buy-back underscores the company’s commitment to strategic growth.
Flocon director Craig Phillips, said: “It was important to us that the business remained family-owned and continued its ethos. The support we had from the team at Darwin Gray meant that we were able to achieve what we needed without complication.”
Based on the Treforest Industrial Estate, Flocon began trading in 1990 and has built an expert reputation across a number of sectors, including marine, utilities and petrochemical.
Mr Phillips said: “We are looking forward to building on our success at Flocon and continuing to deliver for our customers.”
Emily Shingler, an associate at Darwin Gray, who led the transaction, said: “It was a pleasure to work with the team at Flocon to get the transaction over the line. We extend our sincere best wishes for their next ventures and look forward to working together again in the future.”
Robert Price
South Wales builders’ merchant, Robert Price, has further expanded with the acquisition of a rival out of administration. A pre-pack deal for T.G Howell & Sons Ltd, which trades as Terry Howell Timber & Builders Merchants, has safeguarded all 53 employees.
Abergavenny headquartered Robert Price has 29 branches across South Wales and one in Hereford, selling everything from building materials, roofing and timber to tools and workwear.
Family-owned and established in 1956, Terry Howell Timber and Builders’ Merchants started business manufacturing ladders. It has branches in Newport and Pontypool with a five-acre wholesale distribution yard specialising in the treatment of timber. The pre-pack sale was overseen by joint administrators Huw Powell and Katrina Orum of Begbies Traynor in Cardiff, with marketing support provided by Gavel Auctioneers.
Despite efforts to cut costs, the company was experiencing unsustainable losses which were mostly attributable to the wholesale business. Under the terms of the sale to Robert Price, its two builders merchant stores will continue to trade, while the wholesale side of the business will close, though no employees have been made redundant. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
Commenting on the sale, Huw Powell, joint administrator, and partner at Begbies Traynor in Cardiff, said: “Terry Howell began to experience financial difficulties and volatile trading as a consequence of the pandemic. This was further exacerbated by a shift in the post-Covid market with margins falling away over the past 18 months.
“This is a bittersweet outcome for the directors and family, but the fact that they sought advice quickly has helped to secure a positive outcome for all of the company’s employees and we expect that creditors will share in a return that will exceed what is achieved in most insolvencies. As a family business with 29 branches across South Wales and Herefordshire, Robert Price represents a very positive opportunity for the Terry Howell team.”
William Godfrey, managing director of Robert Price, said: “The branches will continue to trade under the Terry Howell brand in the short term, as we work to ensure a smooth and efficient integration into the Robert Price Group.”
The administrators were advised by Paul Caldicott and team at Blake Morgan and by Thomas and Gerald Cole of Gavel Auctioneers. Robert Price was advised by Gerallt Jones and team at Hugh James, and Paul Byett at UHY Hacker Young.
Equity deals
The value of private equity investment into 海角视频 firms declined by 42% in 2023, according to new research from Beauhurst. Its report, The Deal 2023, showed the combined value of publicly announced deals was £12bn, down from £20.6bn in 2022.
On value Wales secured 0.9% of the 海角视频 total, with deals totalling £106m. The biggest Welsh deal was a £24.4m raise for Cardiff-based cryptocurrency theft insurance fintech Coincover. Other notable deals included a £11m raise for Novatiq, £10.4m for MyPinPad and just over £8m for Transcend Packaging.
On the number of deals, Wales saw 64 which represented 2.9% of the 海角视频 total of 2,179 (down 25% on 2022).The number of deals in Wales was higher than Northern Ireland (1% 海角视频 total), the north east of England and the east Midlands (2.6%). With the largest concentration of businesses in the 海角视频, London dominated the number of deals with 48%.
Henry Whorwood, managing director of research and consultancy at Beauhurst, said: “Few companies are raising at the moment to burn their cash to acquire market share (although some companies are having to raise significant sums to secure computing power for AI models). Overall, this slowdown in funding doesn’t mean companies are dying.
“Although insolvencies are at record levels, one has to remember that it’s a natural corollary with a higher number of companies in the 海角视频 that insolvencies and dissolutions should be at record levels in absolute terms.”
The most common route to exit for equity-backed entrepreneurs and their investors alike is a trade sale.
Mr Whorwood, said: “However, until we see more of these, and at good valuations, the investment landscape for private companies is going to stay gummed up. From a wider macroeconomic view, election year giveaways could materially boost consumer confidence and unlock the cheque books of big corporations at the same time.”