Maven invests in Westway Cooling Limited

Just days after completing their own Management Buyout, the team at Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (“Maven”) has led an investment in the MBO of Westway Cooling Limited (“Westway”) a provider of air conditioning and facilities management services based in West London. Despite the economic backdrop, Westway is performing well with turnover of around £10 million and employing 38 people.

Westway was established in 2001 by Carl Brooks who, together with Andy Donnell, has led the MBO. David Steventon, co-founder of Covion, a successful facilities infrastructure services business sold to Balfour Beattie in 2007, will join the board as Chairman. Westway provides high quality air conditioning and related services to a blue chip customer base. Clients include Marks and Spencer, Fitness First and JP Morgan Cazenove in addition to a number of top-end restaurants, high net worth individuals and City dealing rooms. The company focuses on the refurbishment and maintenance market, rather than the more volatile new-build sector, and targets customers for whom service and total reliability are key.

Clients of Maven invested £2.55 million, alongside £1.54m from Matrix Private Equity Partners and a substantial contribution from management. Co-operative Bank provided term debt and additional banking facilities. The vendor rolled over £0.5m as part of the funding. Ned Dorbin of Maven led the transaction and joins the board of Westway. BDO Stoy Hayward in Reading introduced the deal to Maven and advised on the investment. With Thames Valley legal and financial due diligence advisers, this deal continues Maven’s policy of involving local advisers in each regional corporate finance centre in their transactions.

Carl Brooks, Managing Director of Westway, said: "We are delighted to have secured the MBO of Westway with Maven’s backing. Throughout the deal process they have been very supportive and we were attracted to their experience in helping businesses like ours achieve their potential. Equally importantly, they are people we have enjoyed working with. Westway has grown rapidly over the years and this deal allows us to invest in our management and business infrastructure to ensure we can continue growing in a controlled manner whilst ensuring client service levels are maintained at the highest levels.”

Ned Dorbin, Senior Investment Manager at Maven, said: “Westway stands out from other businesses in the sector due to its total focus on client service and reliability, which came through very strongly in our customer due diligence. The company has an impressive and robust blue-chip client list. We are looking forward to working closely with the Westway team as the business enters an exciting phase in its development.”

Key professionals involved in this transaction included:
Maven Capital Partners UK LLP – Ned Dorbin
Matrix Private Equity Partners – Jonathan Gregory, Eric Tung
Co-operative Bank, Cambridge – Tim Jones
BDO Stoy Hayward, Reading – John Parkinson, Angela Haygarth, David Chennell (Corporate Finance)
KPMG, Reading – Adrian Dray (Vendor CF advice)
Morgan Cole, Reading – Guy Constant, Guy Nesbitt (Management legals)
Osborne Clarke, Reading – Robert Wood, Lisa Maundrell (Investor legals)
Hewitsons, Cambridge – Helen Drayton (Bank legals)
Hurst Morrison Thomson, Henley on Thames – Andrew Thomson, John Price (Financial Due Diligence)
Armstrong Transaction Services – Tom Raymond (Commercial Due Diligence)
FWB, Edinburgh – Guy Hughes, Scott Black (Management Due Diligence)