Marketing and communications agency Palmer Hargreaves has become the Business Growth Fund‘s (BGF) 40th investment to date.
The Leamington Spa-headquartered business has banked £4 million through the deal and plans to pursue acquisition-led growth.
Set up 1984 by current chairman Andrew Clift, Palmer Hargreaves initially specialised in the automotive after-sales market before expanding into agrochemical, financial services and business-to-business services.
The business has already closed an acquisition during 2013, the purchase of German IT and telecommunications firm PR Partners in October, and will be targeting further buys in the UK and Germany so that it can expand into countries such as China and Brazil.
For the BGF, the deal marks the second deal it has closed in a week, and fifth in December, as it continues to deploy its £2.5 billion of investment capital.
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Clift of Palmer Hargreaves comments, ‘Our ambition now is to grow even more. We reviewed a number of funding options and had several offers but in the end we felt that the BGF’s approach, offer and culture suited us the best.’
BGF investment director Ian Downing will now be joining the board of Palmer Hargreaves, while his other board position with the BGF is at specialist footwear company Shuropody.
Downing says, ‘The senior team have demonstrated their ability to grow both organically and by acquisition and BGF is delighted to provide long-term capital and strategic input to reinforce the team’s long-term growth plans.’
The acquisitions Palmer Hargreaves hopes to close will reportedly bring in complementary skills, new sector expertise and boost the overall team.
‘We recognise that there is demand for our automotive expertise in many markets and during the course of 2014 we plan to open an office in China, to be followed by Brazil in 2015,’ Palmer Hargreaves chief executive Randy Weeks adds.
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