The Bristol office of international accountancy group PKF has helped an Irish-founded security equipment distributor and remote monitoring business complete three strategic acquisitions.
PKF director Sam Phillips, who heads PKF’s transaction services offering in Bristol, was part of the team that carried out financial and tax due diligence for existing client Fortus Group and AIB Equity Capital, its financial backer in the deals. 
AIB invested €14.5m (£12.7m) in Dublin-headquartered Fortus, which helped it acquire The Electric Gate Shop, Specialized Security Products and Red Rhino Monitoring.
Fast-growing Fortus supplies installers of CCTV, intruder detection and alarms, access control, fire safety, gate automation and remote monitoring systems.
Its revenues have grown from €16m to €100m over the past five years and it now employs 250 people across the UK and Ireland.
Hertfordshire-based Specialized Security Products and The Electric Gate Shop, based in South Yorkshire, are both market leaders in access control and gate automation while Red Rhino Monitoring is a CCTV monitoring business headquartered in Cheshire.
The combined transactions bring Fortus’s revenues to €115m (£100m) – with further expansion on the cards. 
The PKF team also included David Lucas, Jack Swinburne, Conor O’Rourke and Tom in Dublin and Tom Slade, Adam Kefford and Callum West in the South West. Shane O’Donovan and Eoin Kenny assisted from a tax structuring perspective.
AIB’s investment in Fortus marked the end of a successful three-year partnership with Rockpool Investments, which exited as part of the transaction, generating a return of 2.5 times for its investor base.
Fortus chief executive Mark Brophy said: “This was a terrific deal to get closed and it was great working with the combined PKF team in the UK and Ireland once again.
“We look forward to working with PKF again as we continue to grow in the UK and Ireland and now into mainland Europe with the backing of AIB.
“I’d like to thank David, Jack, Sam, Shane and teams for their support on these transactions.”
Sam Phillips, pictured, added: “Having previously advised Fortus on its acquisition of Enterprise Security Distribution, we were pleased to work closely with our PKF colleagues in Ireland to support the group’s continued expansion with the backing of AIB.
“This was a complex project involving a number of stakeholders and a great team effort.
“Fortus has grown rapidly in recent years through bolt-on acquisitions, and part of our task was to help AIB understand the underlying, sustainable profit growth of the business.
“These latest acquisitions will enable Fortus to diversify its product offering while benefiting from increased buying power.”
Since opening three-and-a-half years ago, PKF Francis Clark’s Bristol office on Victoria Street has grown rapidly and now has a team of more than 50 people advising a wide range of clients.
It is one of the firm’s eight offices across the South West, which between them employ 53 partners and more than 800 staff.
PKF Francis Clark is a member of the PKF International family of legally independent firms, which together are ranked as the 11th largest provider of accountancy services in the UK by Accountancy Age.
