Lawyers advise on complex deal

Mar 25 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

LAW firm Dickinson Dees LLP has advised long-standing client Downing Corporate Finance in its £4.3m funding of the acquisition of Berkshire company Kingsclere Nurseries Ltd.

Downing Corporate Finance was set up in 1986 to promote venture capital trusts and other tax-based investment schemes and Dickinson Dees was first instructed by the company in 2005.

Over the years, it has fostered a strong working relationship with Downing and completed more than 20 transactions with an estimated value of more than £70m for the firm.

Specialists across the corporate, property, banking and tax departments at Dickinson Dees were involved in the latest transaction to acquire Kingsclere Nurseries, which was led by the management of Complete Childcare, a children’s nursery business in the Reading area in which Downing has also taken a minority stake.

It takes the number of nurseries in the combined group from three to 10, with nearly 600 registered places and 130 employees.

Dickinson Dees client partner Tom Fitzpatrick said: “We have established an excellent working relationship with Downing over the years since we first began advising the firm in 2005.

“Downing are much less dependent on bank funding than some of our other clients in the private equity arena, which has enabled them to remain active notwithstanding the credit crisis. We are delighted to keep helping them expand their investment portfolio across the country – as far apart as Sussex and Liverpool.”

Downing Corporate Finance investment director Jonathan Boss said: “Once again Dickinson Dees has played a pivotal role in bringing an important transaction to a successful conclusion. Our simultaneous investment in Complete Childcare and Kingsclere Nurseries was complex and required huge attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture.”