Devenish, founded in 1952 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, provides products and services to the global agricultural industry.
The Group manages an extensive portfolio of animal nutrition products with over 70 trademarked and branded products servicing over 1,500 customers across the Pig, Ruminant, Poultry and Companion animal nutrition market segments.
They have a heavy focus on R&D and Innovation with a focus on sustainability. They have Operations in Ireland, the UK, Turkey, the Middle East, U.S.A. & Mexico. Today, 90% of Devenish sales are derived from manufactured products.
Initially, FOCUS Capital Partners was engaged to raise equity for the company for growth capital.
The decision was made to sell Devenish North America which comprised of four manufacturing facilities, three of which are located in the US and one in Mexico.
FOCUS Investment Banking and FOCUS Capital Partners were jointly mandated to sell the Devenish North American Business.
We spoke to Focus Bankers and Focus Capital Bankers regarding their successful deal.
Rick Thomas, from Focus Bankers explained that this was truly a global deal – the main buyers were from Asia, the Client Parent was in the U.K, the Legal counsel was in the U.S.A and Ireland, the Bankers were in Ireland and the U.S.A, and the Selling Entity was in the U.S.A & Mexico.
Intercultural sensitivity also played a key part as there were multiple cultures and languages involved in the deal, as the buyers were a Korean firm. These aspects were successfully managed by the Irish and American teams respectively.
The fact that Focus Capital Partners and Focus Bankers knew each other well helped tremendously and they had each other’s backs through the whole process.
They explained that a deal is made up of people, from the CEO, and the Attorneys to both teams in the U.S.A. and Ireland who worked tirelessly to make the deal happen. It proved both teams are very good at what they do. Trust in the team members ensured that any challenges were overcome and that there was no right way to do it but that both teams with proven track records ensured a successful outcome.
FOCUS Capital Partners and FOCUS Investment Banking readily admit that they could not have handled the deal without each other. Both parties played an equally important role.
MAWW congratulates both teams on this successful deal.