Duke interviewed Miriad Products’ MD Penny Whitelock on topics including the benefits of royalty financing to support management buyouts.
Duke interviewed Brightwater MD Barbara McGrath on topics ranging from female leadership to COVID-19.
Duke interviewed the United Glass Group’s MD Mark Harrison on topics ranging from capital raising to navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Duke interviewed Welltel’s Chairman John Quinn on topics including the use of royalty financing to execute the company’s buy and build growth strategy.
Case Studies
Miriad Products
Miriad has been established for over 40 years in the recreational vehicle and leisure industry, supplying and distributing to retailers and OEMs across the UK and Europe.
Bakchysarai
Bakhchysarai (Ireland) Limited (“BIL”) was founded as an investment platform in 2018 in order to build a diversified portfolio of strategic and synergistic investments within the Irish/UK recruitment sector. Duke initially financed the MBO of Brightwater, led by industry veteran and incumbent Managing Director Barbara McGrath.
United Glass Group
United Glass Group is one of the UK’s leading independent glass merchants and processors.
Bakhchysarai (Ireland) Limited (“BIL”) was founded as an investment platform in 2018 in order to build a diversified portfolio of strategic and synergistic investments within the Irish/UK recruitment sector.
BIL’s first acquisition was Brightwater, a market-leading recruitment consultancy founded in 1998 with offices in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. The company provides permanent, contract and executive search services to its diversified client base of SMEs, large blue-chip corporates and public sector entities. Duke financed the MBO of Brightwater in September 2018, led by industry veteran and incumbent Managing Director Barbara McGrath.
BIL completed its second acquisition in January 2020. Founded in 2006, PE Global is one of the leading Healthcare and Life Sciences Recruiters in Ireland.
Vantage Resources Limited was BIL’s most recent acquisition in October 2021. Vantage is an IT contracting and talent acquisition business that sources specialist IT professionals on medium to long term contracts to a range of major Irish organisations.
| Industry: | Business Services |
| Capital Invested: | €16.0m |
| Website: | www.brightwater.ie
www.vantage.ie |
| Partner since: | September 2018 |
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Step Investments Ltd. is a diversified holding company with controlling stakes in businesses spanning the Education, Advertising and Leisure sectors.
City Education Group consists of four Dublin-based education institutions and commenced trading in 2011 after it acquired Ashfield Colleges. The Group subsequently acquired the College of Progressive Education (founded in 1986), in 2013 and offers English language courses and professional courses from various other Dublin-based entities.
Founded in 2011, AdTower has the largest network of digital screens in Ireland, focusing on predominantly supermarket chains and forecourt retailers.
Pearl & Dean and Wide Eye Media are both established players in the cinema advertising space. Pearl & Dean has been a household brand for over 60 years in the UK, whilst Wide Eye Media, formed in 1996, enjoys dominant market share in Ireland, with over 500 cinema screens across its portfolio. Pearl & Dean (acquired in 2015) and Wide Eye Media (acquired in 2009) today form part of the same investment group, sharing many operational synergies and growth opportunities.
| Industry: | Education, Advertising and Leisure |
| Capital Invested: | £8.1 million |
| Investment Type: | Perpetual Royalty |
| Website: | www.pearlanddean.com www.wideeyemedia.com www.adtower.ie www.citygroup.ie |
| Partner Since: | June 2018 |
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MRDB Holdings undertakes business as Miriad Products. Formed in 1977, Miriad is the largest privately-owned recreational vehicle (“RV”) parts wholesale company in the UK.
Headquartered in Foston, Derbyshire, the Company has developed a strong reputation for its large range of quality products, industry knowledge and customer-focus. It has exclusive supplier contracts and long-standing relationships with key brands in the industry, and is seen as a reliable and valued partner which has supported the growth of its customers.
With the UK being one of the fastest growing European RV markets for caravans and motor-vehicles, Miriad is well-positioned to take advantage of this. It currently supplies over 15,000 individual products and accessories in the motorhome, caravan, and converter market to approximately 1,700 end business customers and operates out of a 35,000 sq ft facility. Miriad operates a business-to-business model which services customers through two distinct sales divisions – OEM and retail.
| Industry: | Distribution and Sales |
| Capital Invested: | £18.25 million |
| Website: | www.miriad-products.com |
| Partner since: | February 2019 |
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ICHC is a leading healthcare organization specialising in the development, commissioning and management of healthcare facilities and services using a public-private partnership model. Its core business is to export Canada’s Healthcare intellectual and management expertise to other countries.
Established in 1994, InterHealth Canada has employed over 5,000 professionals worldwide and has provided healthcare to a combined population of over 20 million people. InterHealth Canada is committed to delivering internationally accredited healthcare management services with an emphasis on investment returns. The head office is located in Toronto, Canada, with regional offices in Riyadh, London, Providenciales, Grand Turks, Warsaw and Dubai.
| Industry: | Healthcare |
| Capital Invested: | £10.0 million |
| Website: | www.interhealthcanada.com |
| Partner Since: | August 2018 |
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Trimite is a 80-year-old UK private company that formulates and manufactures high performance and technologically superior coatings and paints for speciality industrial markets. It has more than 120 employees in four UK plants based in Birmingham, the Midlands and West London.
The company is a key supplier of industrial coatings to several global brands and organisations in sectors including defence and aerospace, agricultural and construction equipment, and automotive. Trimite has a history of profitable operations in highly technical applications, has low debt and enjoys robust gross margins relative to the overall paint industry.
Trimite is led by a highly experienced team of executives who have spent their careers in the UK manufacturing sector and in senior management positions in global coatings suppliers like Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. With this in mind, Trimite is well-positioned to expand its market presence and take advantage of its strong and growing sales pipeline.
| Industry: | Manufacturing |
| Capital Invested: | £11.00 million |
| Website: | www.trimite.com |
| Partner Since: | March 2018 |
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United Glass Group is the holding company to its three operating subsidiaries – Tufwell, PLG and BGC and as a group is one of the UK’s leading independent glass merchants and processors.
The Group has supplied glass to prominent projects such as the Shard skyscraper, London’s Olympic Park, the British Museum, the Bowes Museum, Sage Gateshead, as well as Fenwicks and Selfridges department stores.
BGC, established in 1979, is based in the Midlands and serves trade customers, architects, interior designers, construction professionals and private home owners throughout the West Midlands and beyond. Its products and services range from the supply of plain glass from stock to sophisticated processing, and it holds extensive stocks of plain glass, safety glass, fire glass and horticultural glass, available for next day delivery using its own fleet of vehicles.
Tufwell, established in the 1980s, is based in West Sussex and, with its own dedicated glass tempering facility, is a specialist glass supplier of glazed partitioning, primarily servicing the London office market. By using state-of-the-art machinery, coupled with a highly skilled workforce, Tufwell is able to compete in the demanding market of London’s commercial building sector. Many of its products and services are used to supply the architectural glazing and interiors markets, with order to delivery completed in a short period of time.
PLG, established in 1977, is based in North East England and has a state of the art processing facility which caters to the most demanding commercial glass installations including oversized and/or curved glass. Its commercial glass services include internal and external glass doors, screens, shop fronts, glass balustrades, glass staircases, glass entrances and other bespoke architectural glass installations.
LAG, established in 2013, is based in Hayes and is a premium bespoke glass processor for a wide range of glazing applications including glass walls, roof glazing, glass doors, glass floors, windows, and glass box extensions. The company’s unique service offering is its ability to make glass products with a high degree of complexity in a short amount of time and is extensively used throughout the residential building market.
| Industry: | Manufacturing |
| Capital Invested: | £12.0 million |
| Website: | www.tufwellglass.co.uk www.peterleeglass.com www.brownhillsglass.com |
| Partner Since: | April 2018 |
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Lynx Equity (U.K) Ltd. (“Lynx”) is the subsidiary of Lynx Equity Ltd. (“Lynx Equity”), a Toronto-based private company founded over 10 years ago with a portfolio of over 40 operating companies that seeks to acquire, own, and operate mature, old-economy businesses, with no intent of sale. Lynx seeks to pursue investments in mid-market companies ($750,000 – $2.5M EBITDA) with the goal of building value through opportunistic acquisitions, strategic leadership and the timely use of financial expertise. Lynx established its European operations in 2017 with its first acquisitions in the U.K., and will be expanding through further acquisitions. Duke Royalty has secured the position as Lynx’s preferred European capital partner for such acquisitions, with Duke committing up to £15 million to support the initial expansion.
| Industry: | Industrials |
| Capital Invested: | £13.5 million |
| Website: | www.lynxequity.com |
| Partner Since: | October 2017 |
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Fairmed Healthcare AG (“Fairmed”) is a licensed Swiss-based pharmaceutical distributor that provides high-quality, generic prescription medicines and over-the-counter (“OTC”) pharmaceuticals across continental Europe.
Founded in 2012, the Company is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with 34 employees. The Company has a current product portfolio of approximately 40 available drugs and its principal market is Germany.
Fairmed and its subsidiaries produce a portfolio of high-quality generic products encompassing prescription and OTC drugs, as well as dermocosmetics and dietary supplements for many therapeutic areas.
Fairmed’s strategy to succeed in the dynamic global generics market is to focus on a broad product portfolio with cost-effective manufacturing that is subject to strict quality control. In 2019, Fairmed became majority-owned by the publicly listed company Strides Pharma Science Limited (“Strides”) to provide a platform for the distribution of Fairmed’s pharmaceutical products in the EU, post-Brexit.
Incorporated in 1990, Strides is a global pharmaceutical company with more than 3,000 employees and is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Strides has a global manufacturing footprint with eight manufacturing facilities spread across three continents with a strong footprint across 100 countries.
| Industry: | Healthcare |
| Capital Invested: | €10.00 million |
| Website: | www.fair-med.com |
| Partner Since: | July 2021 |
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Fabrikat was founded in 1985 and is now the largest independently owned manufacturer of lighting columns and guardrails in the UK. Fabrikat designs, manufactures and supplies street lighting columns, traffic management and telecommunication structures, pedestrian guardrail, parapet, fencing and street furniture products. Leveraging its decades of experience and expertise in manufacturing and engineering, it has broadened its offering to include column testing, evaluation and asset management services.
Fabrikat has a diverse and expanding customer base, supplying local authorities, contractors, developers, specifiers, wholesalers, and lighting OEMs. Increasingly it is pivoting into higher margin, bespoke sub-sectors.
Two members of the MBO Team have been at the company for more than 30 years and across the management team there is deep technical expertise in the steel fabrication market. The company is based in Sutton-in-Ashfield, UK and employs c.80 staff across its production and administrative functions.
| Industry: | Steel Fabrication |
| Capital Invested: | £6.2 million |
| Website: | www.fabrikat.co.uk |
| Partner Since: | February 2021 |
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Creō-Tech is a Canadian holding company that has been set up to acquire businesses that provide engineering, procurement and construction services in commercial and industrial settings. Creō-tech offers a full complement of services to the North American Industrial mid-market, including: structural, electro-mechanical, automation and technical support solutions. Creō-tech offers a competitive advantage by executing on a customized approach, to meet client’s needs with innovative solutions. To date, Creō-Tech has acquired two businesses, Axial Inc. (“Axial” and together with its subsidiaries “Axial Group”) and Silhouette Enclosures Ltd. (“Silhouette”).
Axial Group is a boutique, multi-disciplinary engineering firm offering clients EPC services in a wide variety of industries. Established in Calgary, Alberta in 1997, Axial Group has comprehensive industry expertise and technological capabilities, delivering innovative structural and electro-mechanical engineering, industrial automation and industrial IT solutions, in both new construction and retrofit environments. Axial Group has extensive global expertise, having delivered and managed projects both domestically and internationally.
Silhouette, established in 2003, is a specialised leader in custom design and fabrication of industrial enclosures and control rooms. Silhouette works directly with its clients to customize structural and electro-mechanical designs, develop innovative acoustic and vibration solutions, and manufacture a high-quality product. The company supplies products worldwide, with a primary focus in the Telecommunications, Utilities, Marine & Port, Material Handling, Forestry, Mining, and Oil & Gas Industries.
| Industry: | Engineering, Procurement, and Construction |
| Capital Invested: | CAD $8.3 million |
| Website: | www.creotechgroup.com |
| Partner Since: | July 2021 |
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InTec comprises a UK-wide group of ICT specialists enabling businesses to work smarter through technology. It specialises in the design, implementation, and support of a wide range of cloud services and business applications including I.T. managed services, I.T. infrastructure support, hosted collaboration, and communication solutions. InTec is an end-to-end independent technology consultancy helping businesses understand and see real value from their technology systems and investments.
Formed in 2016, InTec is highly acquisitive and has acquired ten businesses to date. InTec’s underlying businesses have long standing operations, high customer retention and positive EBITDA. Future growth plans include M&A of businesses with similar financial characteristics but diversification of specialties, customers and local geographies which are accretive to current operations.
| Industry: | IT Managed Services |
| Capital Invested: | £12.3 million |
| Website: | www.intecbusiness.co.uk |
| Partner Since: | July 2021 |
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Atlas is a US-based, turnkey national brand implementation company that delivers signage, sign maintenance, lighting, installation, and project management services to the world’s leading companies. Established in 1992 in South Florida, United States as a local installer, Atlas is now a top 10 national signage provider. With international coverage and 12 offices throughout the country, Atlas employs over 200 people. The Company has operated as a family-owned business since its inception. Today, Atlas has three manufacturing facilities located across the Southern US and can design, produce and install any type of signage need that its customers may request.
Atlas is a provider of brand implementation products and services for Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries. Its wide range of sign and branding offerings includes custom signage, architectural elements, digital signage, custom graphics and digital prints. Atlas program management services include design and engineering, in-house permitting, fabrication, self-performing installation, custom reporting, high-rise capabilities along with post-installation service and maintenance. Managing and executing on large-scale rebranding programs and conversions are among its operating strengths.
| Industry: | Manufacturing |
| Capital Invested: | USD $21.0 million |
| Website: | www.atlasbtw.com |
| Partner Since: | December 2021 |
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Tristone Healthcare Limited (“Tristone”) is a buy-and-build investment group focused on social care. The business currently provides residential and domiciliary care in two end markets: i) high acuity adults with severe mental, physical or learning disabilities; and, ii) care leavers, aged 16-19, who are transitioning out of social care and into independent living.
Tristone’s management philosophy is to operate a simple and care-centric community of businesses that focus, first and foremost, on delivering outstanding care and support. Tristone’s operating subsidiaries retain their identity and value base, and Tristone aims to help support existing management and staff teams to unlock further growth and value and ultimately positively impact more lives. Tristone deeply understands the demands of social care and support and has extensive experience of investing in and building social care businesses, having supported a number of different care businesses since formation in 2015.
Duke Royalty has partnered with Tristone on its journey to acquire and grow social care companies by committing up to £20m to fund Tristone’s growing pipeline of bolt-on acquisitions and refinance the existing capital structure.
| Industry: | Specialist Care |
| Capital Invested: | £10.5 million |
| Website: | https://tristone.capital/healthcare/about-tristone-healthcare/ |
| Partner Since: | December 2021 |
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Exits
Established in 2006, Welltel is an Irish-based business communications company led by founding CEO Ross Murray. It is one of the largest independent voice and data providers in Ireland, selling integrated telephony systems and connectivity solutions to over 3,000 corporates and government bodies.
Welltel operates in a rapidly evolving market with significant potential for growth, both organically and through acquisition. The Company is focused on gaining increased market share through the delivery of end-to-end communication and connectivity solutions for its enterprise customers. In 2018 Welltel was awarded the prestigious Deloitte Fast 50 award for the fifth consecutive year.
Duke first invested in Welltel in June 2017 and provided five rounds of investment, totalling £13.7m. Four of these five rounds were used to fund M&A including ATS, Eyrco, Invistech and Novi as part of Welltel’s ongoing “buy and build” plan. Duke’s flexible, long term capital was key to facilitating Welltel’s ambitious strategy during the time of its investment, and we’re proud to have supported them during a period of significant growth. Duke exited in December 2020 when the business was recapitalised by a Private Equity Partner.
| Industry: | Business Telecom |
| Website: | www.welltelgroup.com |
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Founded in 2014, Xtremepush is a global Multi-Channel Experience and Engagement Marketing Platform headquartered in Dublin but with offices in the UK, US, and Eastern Europe. The company enable hundreds of leading enterprise brands to drive engagement and increase revenue.
Duke invested £2.0m in XtremePush in early 2018, to facilitate the successful acquisition of Emailcenter, a leading UK Email Service Provider.
In September 2020, XtremePush took the decision to move to another capital provider due to stage it had reached in its growth lifecycle. The flexibility of Duke’s capital solution and the ability for XtremePush to choose the timing of its refinancing event was key to allow it to focus on the execution of its global expansion plan.
| Industry: | B2B Technology |
| Website: | www.xtremepush.com |
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Temarca, a family owned business established in 1997, operates multi-day riverboat cruises along the Rhine and Danube rivers, providing passengers with an experience focussing on the scenery, local history, culture, and cuisine of each city along the way. Each of Temarca’s three riverboats have 60 – 75 cabins and are staffed with 30 – 35 employees. Through the years, the company has built strong relationships with numerous agencies that sell-out boat capacity years in advance, providing Temarca with a significant amount of forward visibility on their sales. Temarca operates within the largest segment of the market, combining luxury amenities with competitive prices.
River cruises are a very distinct segment from ocean cruises, and are growing at about double the ocean cruise growth rate due to the unique and intimate cultural experience offered. The growth of the international river cruise industry, specifically, is expected to be supported by a growing retirement age population, better health of older individuals, growing demand for land-based exploration, and increasing popularity of riverboats with younger generations.
| Industry: | Hospitality & Leisure |
| Website: | www.sijfacruises.nl |
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BHPC is an Irish brokerage specialising in the niche not-for-profit (NFP) insurance space, with small operations in other specialty insurance areas. The Company is an established market leader and has provided insurance solutions to the NFP sector for over 20 years. BHPC has a broad range of customers in the NFP space encompassing several thousand charities, social housing groups and community and volunteer organisations.
Ahead of its acquisition by Duke Royalty, Capital Step successfully funded the MBO/MBI of BHPC as part of a shareholder transition plan, whereby the combined buy-in and buy-out management team leveraged their experience in order to drive the business forward through various growth initiatives.
Duke exited its position in BHP in August 2021. The deal generated an IRR of 29.4%.
| Industry: | Insurance |
| Website: | www.bhpinsurance.ie/not-for-profit-insurance/ |
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Berkley is a trusted international resource partner with over 20 years of operational experience. The Company provides recruitment and consulting services to a long-standing list of blue-chip clients across Ireland, with a specific focus on the Business and Technology, Life Sciences and Engineering sectors. Berkley prides itself on its strong reputation for being a high-end provider of top talent.
In July 2017, Berkley’s incumbent management team partnered with an experienced buy-out consortium to purchase the business from its previous owners, the Rethink Group, which Duke facilitated with its funding. The incoming team have extensive MBO and sector-specific expertise.
Duke exited its investment in Berkley in April 2021, delivering an IRR of 16%.
| Industry: | Recruitment |
| Website: | www.berkley-group.com |
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