Dains advise on Team Consulting buyout

Deal summary

Dains Corporate Finance has acted as lead advisor on a deal which saw the employee buy-out of Team Consulting Ltd, a globally renowned expert in the design and development of medical devices. One of the better known medical devices designed by the Company is the Epipen, an autoinjector used for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis).

The buy-out was led by Team Consulting's Chief Executive Officer, Dan Flicos, and Chief Operating Officer, Colin Mathews, and involved over 80 per cent of staff buying equity in the company. Established in 1986, Team has grown its expertise in engineering, design and human factors to deliver independent and commercially successful product development services to clients. The original founder and current chairman, who had both played a key role in Team’s history, wanted to profit from their years of effort and investment and it was important to Team that ownership remained with the staff and was open to everybody.

The difference we made

Our focus for this transaction was to understand the importance of the Team working culture and the different groups of shareholders’ and their objectives. We at Dains listened and structured the transaction with this in mind which gave Team’s clients peace of mind, knowing that it was business as usual throughout and after this successful transition. As this was a share buyout It was vital to structure a deal that worked for all the different stakeholder groups in a way which everyone understood and were comfortable with – we were able to take the complexities of such a transaction and communicate them in a way which was understandable to the wide spectrum of individuals that were partaking in the deal.

What our client said

Dan Flicos, chief executive at Team, said: "Many companies go down the route of looking to external equity investors when large shareholders want to realise their investment."We didn't want to do this. We've seen some amazing growth over the last three years and our business is in very good health. We are delighted that together we have been able to complete this staff-led buy-out and keep Team 100 per cent owned by the staff."

“Dains were fantastic – we had high expectations and they still managed to deliver above and beyond what was expected of them. I was impressed at their ability to understand the ins and outs of our business and listen to exactly what we wanted whilst ensuring that the ‘behind the scenes’ work was done swiftly and any potential problems were highlighted and addressed before we tripped over them”.

What we said

Jenny Moore of Dains Corporate Finance commented: "Team’s growth has been built on their uncompromising approach to high quality products and involving all staff in the business. This professionalism has resulted in this complex deal that meets the needs of the numerous stakeholders whilst maintaining the ethos and culture which is so critical to the success of the business.”