Bristol-based corporate finance advisory firm Shaw & Co has passed the significant milestone of handling transactions worth half-a-billion pounds following its two most recent deals.
The firm, founded by Jim Shaw, pictured, 12 years ago, has since become a key player in the market, helping the owners of small and medium-sized firms across the UK to buy, sell or fund the growth of their businesses.
As well as its Bristol HQ it also has bases in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Glasgow,
Appropriately, both the deals that allowed it to break through the £0.5bn barrier involved businesses based in its West of England heartland.
In the first, Shaw & Co helped Bristol waste management company Ecosurety sold two of its collection and recycling schemes to leading international sustainability, technology, data and services experts Reconomy, while the second involved the sale of Data Interconnect, which develops innovative invoice-to-cash software systems from its base near Swindon, and to Los Angeles-headquartered global digital finance transformation leader BlackLine.
These came on the back of a series of notable deals completed by the firm – including some of the most significant in sales in the South West such as Pukka Herbs to Unilever, GoProposal to Sage, Senta to IRIS, Canopy Simulations to Michelin and Vouchercloud to Groupon.
Shaw & Co has also helped a range of businesses find the right funding to support their growth.
These include CatSci, a highly innovative spin-out from AstraZeneca which received significant equity investment from Paris-based Keensight Capital, and microchip designer Ensilica, which used debt funding to help create a platform for an IPO.
The firm said it now planned to expand its footprint across the UK.
Founder and CEO Jim Shaw said: “Over the years, we have worked extremely hard to demystify the complexity of corporate finance so more business owners and SMEs can achieve their ambitions and realise their company’s maximum value.
“This hugely significant milestone is made up of many, many transactions and clearly demonstrates the success of our unique approach, an approach that has seen us working with some of the world’s biggest brands and most innovative SMEs.”
