Category: 2010

One of Scotland’s leading independent corporate finance specialists, DC Consulting advised the owners of Braemore Property Management in the recent sale of their business to Lomond Capital. The deal, led by Harry Linklater and Chris Clark follows soon after DC’s recent expansion into the Edinburgh corporate finance market.

Braemore is a leading Edinburgh Lettings business which currently manages over 800 properties and is renowned for its client service excellence. William Frame, majority shareholder and former Chairman, will retain a consultancy role and will work closely with the Lomond team going forward.

Commenting on the deal, William Frame said: “Consolidation is well overdue in the lettings sector across the UK. Braemore will be used as a bridgehead by Lomond Capital to acquire quality property letting businesses. Their business plan in very sound and backed by a strong well proven Management Team. The Braemore team of Karel Broughton and Colette Murphy along with the entire Braemore staff will be assisting Lomond in driving through the acquisition strategy. Like all deals we had our good and bad days on the way – especially as we had not prepared the business for sale. Without the steady hands of DC Consulting’s Chris Clark and Harry Linklater, getting the transaction over the line would have been somewhat challenging.”

Lomond Capital paid an undisclosed sum for the firm and has promised similar deals are in the pipeline.
Lomond Capital chairman Roger Lane-Smith commented: “The acquisition is the first of a clearly defined strategy that will see Lomond Capital look to significantly grow its presence in Edinburgh and other major UK cities. In difficult economic times, we’re delighted to be in a position to invest in the UK economy.”

3D Diagnostic Imaging, currently quoted on the PLUS market, will transfer to AIM at the end of this month. 3D Diagnostic Imaging plc (www.3ddiagnosticimaging.com) was incorporated in the Isle of Man on 17 June 2008, and has a single wholly owned trading subsidiary, CarieScan, incorporated in Scotland and based in Dundee. 3D has conditionally raised £2.71 million (before expenses) by way of a placing of 45,248,318 shares at 6p per share with existing and new investors, giving the company a market capitalisation of £10.23 million. 3D is currently a PLUS-quoted company; subject to an EGM, trading on PLUS will cease at the close of business on 19 November and trading of the company’s shares on AIM will commence on 22 November.

3D Diagnostic Imaging was formed to acquire the assets of IDMoS, a spinout from the University of Dundee, which had been placed in administration in April 2007. 3D’s subsidiary CarieScan (www.cariescan.com) has developed and taken to market the CarieScan PRO, a hand-held battery operated device, which enables dentists to measure and monitor the effect of treatment regimes to show decay advance or regression, and optimise individual treatments for different patients.

The device was developed by IDMoS, which raised significant capital and floated on AIM, but due to the prohibitive conditions of a commercial agreement which it was unable to renegotiate was forced into administration. The funds from the placing will allow CarieScan to expand its operations and to invest, both in additional tooling to increase its manufacturing capacity, and in the process of designing down the cost of manufacturing PRO sensors. The company’s primary focus is on achieving wide-scale adoption of the PRO
by dental practitioners in the USA and in Canada, and it has already partnered with leading dental distributor, Patterson Dental, to achieve adoption in these markets, with first product having been shipped.

The 3D Group’s ultimate objective is to develop, market and commercialise a series of products based on its technology with a range of different applications, such as the early detection of osteoporosis, or of malignant melanomas, the state of health monitoring of battery systems for electric vehicles, or early detection of corrosion within building materials.

Ciqual has latched on to one of the fastest growing technologies in communications, the use of mobile
networks for broadband connections.

The Edinburgh based company has developed a system, Session Insight, which enables mobile operators and their manufacturers to get a real-time view of the service provided and the user experience. This enables providers to assure the operation of their network and deliver a high level of service, and it enables manufacturers of the wireless ‘dongles’ which plug into mobile laptops to ensure that their pre-launch testing
has been successful.

The company was started in September 2007, and secured £1.25 million funding in March last year from Par Syndicate, an informal group of angel investors managed by Par Equity, and SE’s Scottish Co-investment Fund . A second round of funding from the same investors has been provided to fund the lengthy process of securing sales into large mobile operators, where projects have had to go through more levels of approval
than previously.

One effect of the global economic downturn seen by Ciqual is that mobile operators have purchased its system as a managed service, rather than an outright purchase, resulting in a regular revenue stream rather than discrete capital purchases.

During this period, the growth of data traffic has outpaced the growth of voice on mobile networks, with the consequent growth in demand for mobile broadband. Data traffic on mobile networks is set to double every year for the next five years according to a recent report by Cisco*, with laptop and wireless ‘dongle’ users generating 70% of this traffic growth.

Ciqual has this year had a major breakthrough, which could transform its business. This is a contract with one of the world’s largest telecom equipment manufacturers for the supply of its products under a ‘white label’ arrangement. Details of the deal are closely guarded until the first sales are secured, with Ciqual recently completing its first live trials at a Spanish mobile operator for its new partner. The equipment manufacturer in question had been developing its own technology for testing network performance, but decided to check what was available from third parties. After assessing a number of products, it was decided to work with Ciqual – not only a big win for the company in terms of business, but also a welcome technical endorsement.

The second funding round, complete in May, was an equity investment of £700k from Par Syndicate and SCF, of which £400k has been paid now, with the second tranche payable in September/October against agreed milestones. Ciqual was advised in this fundraising by DC Consulting.

Lochglen Whisky Company is a sales and marketing company set up to export blended scotch whisky to the US, South America and China.

Established in late 2009 by serial entrepreneur John McHattie, Lochglen is intended to be a niche exporter to target markets and has an extensive distributor network in place capable of achieving significant revenues in the next three years.

Earlier this month the company secured funding of an undisclosed amount from a business angel for the purchase of stock and initial working capital and to fund the initial start-up of the business.

To allow the business to survive, ICS2’s directors set about the task of seeking new investment to place the company on a level keel and return the business to profit. The original owners and private investor in the business, working closely with Dundee Council, the Scottish Executive, and Barwell plc, and with DC Consulting as advisers, negotiated a new funding package that was acceptable to the Bank of Scotland and all relevant parties involved. As a result a total refunding package of £500k was achieved. Continue reading “ICS2: £500k Refinancing Package”

TPLD worked with Angus Hay of DC Consulting in preparing a new business plan to take the company forward, and it was DC Consulting that made the introduction to Barwell. The investment of £430k, completed in mid-February, incorporated the conversion of loans and preference shares from existing investors alongside new equity being introduced from Barwell and the Scottish Co-investment Fund. The funding package will enable Piggot and colleagues to embark upon a marketing plan which will see them take the Virtual World product to prospective clients in a ‘road show’ format. TPLD currently sells mainly in the UK, but has prospects in Singapore and Europe; in addition, Barwell is providing contacts which will help the company to enter the USA.

Continue reading “TPLD: £430k Investment”