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European law firm Fieldfisher has advised Access Intelligence plc on its disposal of Due North Limited to Proactis Holdings Limited for £4.5m.
Access Intelligence is the London Stock Exchange-listed parent company of a group of Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses that deliver comprehensive compliance solutions. Due North Limited provides a cloud hosted procurement platform to clients all over the UK, predominantly in the public sector, and processes an annual procurement spend of approximately £100 billion.
Access Intelligence will use the proceeds of the disposal to strengthen its balance sheet and provide additional working capital to support the growth and development of its core businesses.
This latest deal follows on from the firm's advice to Access Intelligence, in June 2015, on the acquisition of Cision and Vocus, the media software businesses in the UK. The latter arose from Competition and Markets Authority requirements due to the merger of Gorkana and GTCR.
Joanna Arnold, CEO of Access Intelligence, said: "The divestment of Due North from the Group is in line with our strategy to focus on risk and reputation management solutions. The Fieldfisher team has helped us do that with their advice on both the Due North disposal and our acquisition of the Cision and Vocus businesses last year. Their pragmatic and commercial approach, interspersed with a good sense of humour, has been invaluable in getting our deals done. No transaction ever runs smoothly, but I know that, if there is a problem, they will always have the right expert on hand to give me good commercial advice on how best to handle it."
David Wilkinson, partner in Fieldfisher's Corporate practice, led the team, with support from Julian Grant (associate, Corporate) and Andrew Prowse (Partner, Tax). David Wilkinson said: "Having advised Access Intelligence on the transaction last year, it was great to work with Joanna and her team on this one. We look forward to continuing to support Access Intelligence in achieving their strategic goals in the future."
Proactis Holdings were advised by Walker Morris.