Dains provide due diligence advice to RBS

Deal summary

Name badge manufacturer Badgemaster, has announced the acquisition of principal competitor, Akorn Badge Company Ltd. Badgemaster is already the UK's largest name badge manufacturer, and adds this as the most significant event yet to its ever growing list of achievements.

Key milestones in the company's history since its humble beginnings in the back of a porta-cabin in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire in 1992 include in 2006 being granted the Royal Warrant by Her Majesty the Queen for supply of name badges to the staff of the royal households; gaining the British Standards Institute ISO 9001 accreditation for quality management in 2010; the ISO 14001, the highest level of environmental accreditation possible in 2013; and most recently, Badgemaster's Founder and Managing Director, John Bancroft, being granted an MBE for services to business in Nottinghamshire.

Through Badgemaster's acquisition of Akorn Badge Company Ltd, customers will benefit from even more competitive prices achieved through greatly increased buying power, wider choices and the combined technologies and expertise of two specialist name badge companies who share the ambition to deliver unbeatable customer service. Badgemaster will now have over 27,000 accounts from organisations with just one employee, to those with hundreds of thousands of wearers.

Jim Kent, Akorn Badge Company Ltd's well known, highly respected former Managing Director, has joined John and Vicky Bancroft on the board of directors. Jim McNiven, the former General Manager of Akorn Badge Company Ltd will also be joining Badgemaster's senior management team. Jim is "delighted to be part of this exciting new organisation and is looking forward to bringing unparalleled levels of service and quality to all of the organisation's customers."

Dains provided financial due diligence to RBS, provided by Roy Farmer and Rob Wilson.

What our Client said

Stuart Watson, Director of RBS Corporate Transactions said 'This was the first time we have used Dains for financial due diligence. We were pleased with their approach which was both commercial & focussed, enabling us to finance a new to bank acquisition for Badgemaster, who are one of the major players in their sector. We have subsequently used Dains on other financial due diligence assignments.’

What we said

The Dains Corporate Finance team said “This was a fantastic opportunity to analyse the strategic and financial fit of the two companies in greater depth. We maintained our studious focus throughout the due diligence process to ensure that the deal wasn’t hiding any nasty surprises."