International law firm Hill Dickinson has acted for Fishawack Communications and its management team in a £13m transaction, which saw YFM Equity Partners exit the business in a secondary buyout to a new company backed by significant investment from London based equity house, Growth Capital Partners (GCP). The deal represents a 2x return on investment for YFM Equity Partners.

Provider of blended equity and debt to the UK's small to medium sized businesses, GCP will take a majority stake in the business and Investment Director, Simon Jobson, will take a seat on the board.

Fishawack was founded in 2001 by Oliver Dennis and Dominic Miller and now has over 120 employees based across its offices in the UK, Switzerland the USA. It currently provides medical communications and marketing services (www.fishawack.com) to 12 of the world’s top 20 largest global pharmaceutical companies and has revenues of over £10 million, which have more than trebled since the original buyout in 2008. Founding Directors, Oliver Dennis and Dominic Miller, as well as Managing Director Gail Flockhart and Operations Director Rachel Davies will continue to lead the business.

On the deal, Craig Scott, Partner, Hill Dickinson, said: “Having advised Fishawack on the original MBO in 2008 and on each of its acquisitions since then, this secondary buyout and new growth funding marks the exciting next step on the company’s buy and build journey – a journey which we look forward to continuing to support as Fishawack continues to grow.”

Oliver Dennis. Co-founder of Fishawack said: “We are really pleased to be working in partnership with GCP as they have a strong track record of helping businesses to deliver on their growth plans. We want to continue to build on our market leading position and expand further internationally and believe that GCP is well placed to help us achieve these goals. I’d also like to say that Hill Dickinson did a fantastic job for us on this transaction and how reassuring it is to have Craig and his team at Hill Dickinson watching out for us as our legal advisors.”

Craig Scott, Michael Murphy and Helen Penfold in Hill Dickinson’s Liverpool corporate team acted for Fishawack and its management team. BDO Manchester provided corporate finance and tax advice.

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