Dains provides due diligence services in support of the MBO of Hallmark Sheet Metal Co Limited

Deal Summary 

The Dains Corporate Finance team has recently performed financial and tax due diligence on behalf of Santander Bank, UK Steel Enterprise and the management team in support of the management buy-out (“MBO”) of Hallmark Sheet Metal Co Limited ("Hallmark"). The MBO comes following a combined £2million funding package from Santander Business Banking and UK Steel Enterprise.

Stoke-on-Trent based Hallmark, a manufacturer of hi-spec sheet metal products, has completed a successful MBO, with Mark Hall, John Kennedy and Ray Tait having taken over the reigns with a combined 75 years of engineering industry experience between them.

Roy Farmer and Rob Wilson of Dains LLP worked closely with Santander, undertaking financial due diligence on the business, including a comprehensive review of the historic financials and assumptions underpinning the forecasts. Tax due diligence was provided by Adam Longmore of Dains.

What the bank said

Simon Clewlow, Director of Growth Capital at Santander said “Dains produced a focused and well written due diligence report, which was an important part of our assessment of Hallmark. This strengthened our view that Hallmark is a great example of a highly technical, niche manufacturing business which punches well above its weight.”

What we said

Roy Farmer, Partner at Dains Corporate Finance said "This was a great opportunity to work with both the management team and Santander Bank on this transaction. Our review was tightly scoped to focus on the key issues relating to the transaction, with particular attention paid to the sensitivities around the forecasts. We have continued to support the management team post-completion and we look forward to working with Santander again on similar transactions.”