Keeping business moving during lockdown – HCR driving deals forward

Driving deals forward during lockdown has helped clients of Harrison Clark Rickerbys inc Houlden Sweeney to keep their businesses moving despite the pandemic.

Corporate lawyer Inger Anson, head of the firm’s Cambridge office, has advised on deals which support investment into growing firms and brought technology pioneers together with global leaders in the field.

She said: “Because I often act for companies who are innovative and technology-focused, their appetite for taking business forward digitally is strong, and I was glad to be able to work with them to achieve their aims, in spite of the pandemic.

“I know that M&A activity has been down nationally in the first half of this year, but lockdown saw a steady flow of work for us, and I was glad to see that we were ranked third most active advisor in the East of England and second nationally by Experian in that period.”

She acted for the management team of James and James Fulfilment to enable private equity-backed £11m investment from LDC in the business. The company provides e-retailers with order fulfilment, storing products, packing and shipping orders and handling returns. Their software-based service means that their clients can fulfil orders from multiple channels and countries on one platform, as well as track orders live.

For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Cambridge Mask Co, a provider of military-grade face masks, met a 2,500% increase in demand, with the fulfilment house’s support, receiving the masks in bulk and shipping orders out in 24 hours.

She advised Origin Capital on their investment in innovative law firm Muve as part of their £1.1m equity funding round to finance further expansion into the £1.75bn UK conveyancing law market. Origin Capital’s investment, alongside the Angel Co-Fund and MI Investment Holding Ltd, enabled the firm to develop its combination of technology and a guarantee of an exchange of contracts in a set period. Tim de Vere Green, Origin’s CEO, will join the Muve board. He said: “We are greatly looking forward to joining with Muve’s founders on this exciting growth journey.”

Inger acted for crowd analytics pioneer CrowdVision in its merger with iinside, the US leader in LiDAR-based indoor motion detection. With social distancing now a global phenomenon, the ability to analyse, predict and offer solutions for the flow of people through major spaces such as airports, the deal combines the expertise of both firms to strategic effect.

Working with corporate colleague Rachel Turner, Inger also advised Juriba Limited and its shareholders on investment by the Business Growth Fund (BGF).  Juriba is an industry-leading, global IT migration software provider with bases in the UK and the US. The investment represents a key milestone for Juriba in its growth strategy, particularly with plans for further inroads into the US market and potential acquisitions on the horizon.