Phenna Group strengthens cyber security offering with acquisition
Nottingham-headquartered Phenna Group, which aims to invest in and partner with selected niche, independent Testing, Inspection, Certification and Compliance (TICC) companies that serve a variety of sectors, has acquired PKI Solutions.
This acquisition adds new complementary services and strengthens Phenna’s Cyber Security offering, a key tenet of its future growth plans.
Formed in 2014 and based out of Portland Oregon, USA, PKI Solutions is the world’s foremost cybersecurity specialists providing public key infrastructure (PKI) products, services, and training to give organizations confidence in their identity and encryption systems.
PKI forms the basis of all modern authentication trust on the Internet and is a critical component underpinning security for the Internet of Things (IoT). For nearly a decade, PKI Solutions has partnered with organizations around the world to design, deploy, and operate their PKI.
Mark B. Cooper, Managing Director at PKI Solutions, said: “I am thrilled to be joining Phenna Group, who share my high growth ambitions for the business. The continued focus on customer success, world-class delivery of consulting services, and the expansion of PKI Spotlight throughout the enterprise market were critical when finding the right partner for us to move forward.
“Their unique, autonomous business model really resonated with me and from my first call with Paul and the Phenna team I was convinced they would be a great partner for PKI Solutions. I am excited and confident in the future opportunities as part of Phenna Group, to continue to expand our innovations, products, and services to our customers around the world.”
Paul Barry, Group CEO of Phenna Group, said: “I am delighted that PKI Solutions will be joining Phenna Group to strengthen our presence in the Cyber Security market and extend our international presence.
“Mark has been thoroughly professional to deal with throughout the process and I’m looking forward to welcoming him and his highly experienced team to Phenna Group. This deal adds new public key infrastructure (PKI) capability to our broader cyber offerings and gives us presence in the West Coast of the U.S., which I’m delighted about.”
Phenna Group were advised by RSM UK Corporate Finance LLP, Avonhurst and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. PKI Solutions were advised by Paine Pacific LLC, Scarborough McNeese Oelke & Kilkenny PC, Stoel Rives LLP, and SNK Consulting PC.
Chesterfield firm advises banking regulator on sustainability
Chesterfield’s Green Arch Consulting is working alongside the Central Bank of Nigeria to help the organisation in its transition to a low carbon future.
The business’s founder, Emma Knight-Strong is a registered expert on sustainable finance and Green Transitions through the UK Government’s “Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions” programme (UK PACT).
Funded by the UK’s International Climate Finance, the UK PACT programme has provided funding for projects and skill-shares across three continents since 2018.
In 2022, Green Arch Consulting undertook a review for the Central Bank of Nigeria to help them evolve the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles, which are a set of principles designed to accelerate the transition to a lower carbon, climate resilient economy.
In January 2023, the business was commissioned to undertake further work to progress the update and evolution of these principles in line with international best practice.
Emma Knight-Strong, who lives and works in Chesterfield, will be carrying out a series of virtual workshops with the Central Bank as well as external stakeholders within the Nigerian financial space. The results of the workshops will be fed into, and Green Arch Consulting will be advising on, the redrafting of the principles.
Emma, founder of Green Arch Consulting, said: “Sustainability is increasingly an imperative for businesses to consider – this is driven by increasing regulations and policies driving in that direction, the very real physical impacts that climate change is having on businesses and their supply chains, as well as an overwhelming shift in public opinion on the topic.
“The financial world is increasingly heavily regulated in this area, resulting in significant pressures on the businesses and assets that they finance to consider sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues in a way never before seen.”
Administrators are ‘thrilled’ as Stanton Bikes Limited avoids closure after the business and assets are successfully sold
After entering administration on 11th November 2022, Derbyshire-based bicycle manufacturer and retailer Stanton Bikes Limited has sold its business and assets as a going concern to Stanton Bicycles Limited, a new company owned by Daniel Stanton.
Stanton Bikes Limited is well-regarded both nationally and internationally within the biking industry for designing, manufacturing, and selling hardtail and full-suspension bicycle frames.
The deal comes after Stanton Bikes Limited entered administration on 11th November 2022 after Dean Nelson and Nick Lee, Business Recovery and Insolvency Partners at PKF Smith Cooper, were appointed as Joint Administrators.
Speaking on the sale, Dean Nelson, Business Recovery and Insolvency Partner at PKF Smith Cooper, stated: “We are pleased to announce that the business and assets of Stanton Bikes Limited have been sold and will now continue to trade. Since it opened in 2011, Stanton Bikes has continued to establish a global presence in the biking world. However, recent financial difficulties have left the business in a perilous position.”
Dean added: “As the Joint Administrators, we always sought to sell the business as a going concern, so we are thrilled with this outcome protecting the brand, goodwill and employment. I am sure the revival of a household name like Stanton Bikes will be welcomed in Derbyshire and beyond.”
Phenna Group invests in RammSanderson
RammSanderson has announced a strategic investment partnership with Phenna Group to help it achieve its next phase of growth.
Since establishing in 2014 directors Oliver Ramm, Nick Sanderson and Anthony Mellor have grown the business to have over 50 staff and become a market leader in Ecology, Arboriculture and Flood Risk Assessments. Its client base is a range of public and private sector clients, including national infrastructure and large-scale housing and commercial developments.
Headquartered in Nottingham, Phenna Group’s aim is to invest in and partner with selected niche, independent Testing, Inspection, Certification and Compliance (TICC), and Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) companies that serve a variety of sectors, ensuring customers’ peace of mind by delivering first class assurance & consultancy services.
This acquisition augments RammSanderson’s market-leading Built Environment and Infrastructure platforms and adds geographic and complementary services to its extensive service offering, whilst strengthening and adding greater organisational capacity to its wide range of environmental and consultancy services.
Oliver, Nick and Anthony are excited to see the next growth phase of the business be realised with its new partner. “We’ve come a long way since establishing and are incredibly proud of and thankful for our team and reputation amongst our clients and peers. We have an exciting business plan for the next 5 years and have selected Phenna Group to partner with in order to support the three of us to spearhead this plan.”
Paul Barry, CEO of Phenna Group, stated: “Since my first meeting with Oliver, Nick and Anthony, I’ve been very impressed with their ambitions for their business and I’m really excited the RammSanderson team will be joining Phenna Group. They are a very experienced group, and their range of services will be highly complementary to those currently offered from our Infrastructure Division. I’m really looking forward to working with Oliver, Nick, Anthony and the wider team.”
Oliver, Anthony and Nick commented: “We are delighted to be joining Phenna Group and selected them as our partner due to their unique approach whereby our autonomy and identity are retained, whilst being a vehicle for our continued growth.
“We have been talking to Paul and the Phenna team for some time and whilst this has been a big decision for us, we are very confident we have selected a great partner to support us in the next stages of our growth and development. They have been easy to deal with throughout the process, always acting with integrity and transparency.
“Their operating model and culture will be a great fit for us and we are very excited about them supporting our growth journey. Our decision to partner with Phenna Group provides the Company and all of our team with exciting new opportunities for growth and development, whilst the company realises its full potential yet retains its identity, ethos and spirit.”
Phenna Group were advised by Johnston Carmichael and Avonhurst. RammSanderson were advised by Smith Partnership and Cedar and Co.
Integrated services group acquires majority shareholding in Northants firm
South Staffordshire Plc (SSPlc), an integrated services group that operates two regulated water companies and a range of complementary non-regulated businesses that serve essential services markets, has acquired a majority 92.5% shareholding in Infrastructure Gateway Ltd (IGL), with an option to acquire the remaining 7.5% in 2026.
Backed by its shareholder, funds managed by Arjun Infrastructure Partners, this acquisition for SSPlc marks a key milestone in the growth of its clean energy business, which already includes electric vehicle charging infrastructure and turnkey ground source and district heating services, to further support its customers’ decarbonisation goals.
Based in Kettering, Infrastructure Gateway Ltd, the independent multi utility infrastructure provider, currently serves residential housebuilders and commercial developers across the East of England.
One of a select group of UK companies accredited under the Lloyds Register, and holding Multi Utility Registration Status, IGL is also one of the UK’s top three providers of water connections to Ofwat appointed NAVs (New Appointments and Variations).
Phil Newland, CEO of South Staffordshire Plc, said: “This acquisition brings a highly complementary capability to our existing services, helping us to further strengthen our energy infrastructure and decarbonisation offerings.
“The expertise and passion of the IGL team has meant the business has already achieved a market leading position, and we’re excited to welcome the IGL team to our Group and to support the next chapter of their development as part of our overall growth strategy.”
Steven Draper, Managing Director of Infrastructure Gateway Limited, added: “We are delighted to join SSPlc and look forward to our future as part of the Group. We already have a strong regional client base, and SSPlc is the perfect fit to help us drive further growth opportunities; expanding our services nationwide and into next generation essential infrastructure markets.”
Dan Walker, Alex Odlin and Gregg Pendlington of Dow Schofield Watts’ corporate finance team advised SSPlc while James Killing and Tom Rowe from the transaction services team provided financial due diligence to the company.
Andrew Smith and Gweni Rees-Evans of Shakespeare Martineau provided legal advice to SSplc.
Bowmer + Kirkland awarded places on two national frameworks
Derbyshire-headquartered Bowmer + Kirkland has been awarded places on two further national frameworks, enabling it to bid for more public sector projects.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Construction Services Framework covers projects up to £30 million and will include new build, refurbishment and minor works for the MoJ, HM Courts and Tribunals Services, HM Prison and Probation Service, the Legal Aid Agency and the Home Office.
The Crown Commercial Services Offsite Framework will provide a four-year stream of work with a value of £10 billion. It aims to support the public sector to innovate, drive efficiency and continue to work towards Net Zero Carbon targets. The focus will be on health, housing, education, justice and defence.
Bowmer + Kirkland’s success means that its construction division is now a supplier on 15 Frameworks.
Main Board Director responsible for Frameworks, Chris Arno, said: “Once again our success is down to the hard work of many people. We have proved our worth as a successful framework contractor through our work with the Department for Education. Bowmer + Kirkland is now well established as a public sector contractor alongside our extensive experience for private clients.”
Government recognises progress at Nottingham City Council with decision not to appoint commissioners
Nottingham City Council has welcomed the Government’s decision to continue with the current arrangements in place for overseeing ongoing improvements at the authority rather than appoint commissioners.
The decision means that the Improvement and Assurance Board chaired by Sir Tony Redmond will remain in place to support the council in implementing its ‘Together for Nottingham’ improvement plan.
Council leader, Cllr David Mellen, said: “We very much welcome the Government’s decision which reflects that the current arrangements in place are working.
“The council has already made many of the improvements expected of us by the Improvement and Assurance Board and the Government. In particular, we had agreed a balanced budget and medium term financial plan prior to the soaring inflation and energy costs that have affected the finances of households and councils up and down the country – and we are well on the way to balancing the budget for a second year.
“We recognise there is much more work to do to increase the pace of the changes and to put the council on a solid financial footing despite the huge budget pressures we and all councils are facing currently.”
The council’s Chief Executive, Mel Barrett, said: “We have previously said that our strong preference was to continue working with the Improvement and Assurance Board, with its balance of support and challenge, but that we were committed to working effectively with whatever arrangements Government put in place so that the intervention can be as successful as possible in as short a time as possible.
“We very much welcome the continued involvement of Sir Tony Redmond as chair of the Improvement and Assurance Board. We are committed to working together to address the need to reduce the council’s cost base whilst ensuring that we are providing economic, efficient and effective Best Value services to the people of Nottingham.”
The significant progress on improvements made over the last two years has included:
- Initially agreeing a balanced budget for the current year and Medium-Term Financial Plan for the next four years, prior to the huge increases in inflation and energy costs seen over the last few months. Plans have been fully worked up to do this again in March
- Reducing debt levels and increasing the disposal of property assets to fund council projects and priorities
- Identifying and responding to issues with unlawful HRA misallocation – commissioning and implementing recommendations from two independent reports
- Carrying out a review of council-owned companies including bringing Enviroenergy in-house; selling Thomas Bow and transferring housing services and revenue and benefits back to the council
- Working with bodies such as the Local Government Association and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on implementing best practices at the council
- Investing in staff through leadership development programmes and best practice transformational change programmes, alongside leading private sector partners. This has provided significant opportunities for under-represented groups, reflecting the diversity of Nottingham as a city.
Private equity investor sells Nottingham’s Red Box
Livingbridge, the mid-market private equity investors, has sold its Nottingham-based investee, Red Box Recorders Group Limited to US firm Uniphore Technologies Inc.
The combination brings together Red Box, the dedicated voice specialist with over 30 years’ experience in empowering organizations to capture, secure and unlock the value of enterprise-wide voice, with Uniphore, the global leader in conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
Red Box will continue to operate from its base in Nottingham.
Livingbridge partner, Adam Holloway, said: “This has been another successful technology investment for us, building Red Box from a UK compliance specialist into a global business with a leading proposition for enterprises seeking sovereignty over their data and access to a new world of AI and automation solutions.
“The combination with Uniphore brings clear strategic benefits, accelerating value for the group’s customers in a dynamic and fast developing market. We are hugely thankful to the leadership team and skilled employees of Red Box and wish them every success in the future.”
Richard Stevenson, Red Box CEO, said: “The support from Livingbridge to invest in our latest platform, Conversa, has been instrumental in Red Box’s transformation, allowing us to respond to and exploit new opportunities and service global enterprise customers.
“They have been strong and value-added partners for the business throughout. We are excited about the next chapter as part of Uniphore as AI and automation becomes increasingly embedded in the way businesses operate and grow.”
Livingbridge and Red Box were advised by James Clark and Gordon Beveridge of Obair Partners (Corporate Finance) and Amie Norris of Pinsent Masons (Legal).
US cloud commerce marketplace acquires Derby company
Pax8, the US cloud commerce marketplace, has acquired Derby’s Bam Boom Cloud, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central services organisation.
The acquisition creates a new market opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs) to easily add new lines of business services offerings leveraging Bam Boom’s Microsoft Dynamics expertise.
“Business process automation is on the rise, and the Bam Boom acquisition will enable us to create new simple go-to-market strategies and services for partners to build on their Microsoft Dynamics technology offerings,” said John Street, Chief Executive Officer at Pax8.
“Together, our people, cloud marketplace, programs, services, and resources will enable MSPs to capitalize on the market opportunities with Business Applications solutions and add new revenue streams to their organizations.”
According to Forrester, Microsoft business applications services will hit $10.3 billion in 2025. The applications will continue to see significant growth supported by the fast-growing services ecosystem.
Bam Boom has more than 135 employees across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, India, and Canada, with expansive knowledge and expertise in cloud solutions. Bam Boom offers affordable, fixed monthly pricing and fixed-scope technology solutions designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company is the Global 2022 Microsoft Partner of the Year, Dynamics 365 Business Central.
“We are excited for Bam Boom to join Pax8 to scale our technology solutions to the channel ecosystem,” said Vicky Critchley, CEO at Bam Boom. “Bam Boom is passionate about helping businesses be as sustainable as possible and build a strong foundation with reliable, cloud-based accounting solutions with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Pax8 will enable us to expand our reach and help more businesses grow with Microsoft business solutions.”
Duo of Derby businesses move to Oberoi Business Hub
Two Derby businesses have moved to Oberoi Business Hub in Pride Park to pave the way for further growth.
Titan Investigations has moved its head office operations to the Hub due to its easily-accessible location and conference facilities where the company also holds regular certificated surveillance training courses for its own staff and other private investigators.
Titan Investigations was founded eight years ago by former police detective Simon Henson following a successful career in police covert operations combating serious organised crime and counter terrorism.
The company now employs 273 operatives across the UK operating from nine offices located between London and Manchester – offering a wide range of electronic and physical private investigation services from marital investigation to tracing missing persons as well as corporate investigations from fraud to process serving.
TM Health Care Services, which provides supported accommodation for vulnerable young people aged 16 to 18 in Derby, Nottingham and Stafford, has also expanded into a new head office at Oberoi Business Hub.
The company was set up earlier this year by trained nurse Tanya Makina to provide specialist support for young people with complex needs including care leavers and unaccompanied asylum seekers.
Titan Investigations’ Simon Henson explained: “When I first set up Titan Investigations, I had a virtual office at Oberoi Business Hub to handle our post which was an invaluable service.
“Since then, we have grown rapidly and I am delighted to have now expanded into Oberoi Business Hub with modern serviced offices, high quality meeting and conference facilities and superb support from the Hub team.
“The training side of the business is growing particularly quickly. It is raising standards across the industry not only in the UK but across Europe and further afield and also nurturing talented operatives to meet our operational demand.
“Pride Park is therefore the perfect location for us. As well as being Derby’s most prestigious business address, it is well served by road and rail links with fast access to the UK’s motorway network and internationally from East Midlands Airport.”
Tanya Makina continued: “Our offices at Oberoi Business Hub are excellent value for money with high speed broadband included. We require 24/7 access and always feel safe coming and going at whatever times we require.
“This has enabled us to better structure the business and paves the way for future growth.”
Oberoi Business Hub manager Jodie Brady concluded: “Titan Investigations and TM Healthcare Services are perfect examples of how businesses can thrive and grow with the flexible support and services available through our Hub community.
“We look forward to being part of their ongoing success stories in future years.”
