Gateley advises private investment businesses on Hotbed acquisition

8th February 2012

The corporate team in the Birmingham office of national law firm, Gateley has advised private client investment company, Connection Capital and property investment and asset management firm, Riverside Capital Group on their joint venture acquisition of Milton Keynes based private investor network, Hotbed.

Connection Capital alongside joint venture partner Riverside Capital Group will take over the monitoring of Hotbed's investment portfolio which includes property, venture capital and private equity investments. Hotbed's private equity and property portfolio teams will join Connection Capital and Riverside respectively and all investment activity will be made under the Connection Capital banner.

The acquisition will see Connection Capital become the largest operator in the market with access to well over 1,000 high net worth investors. The firm launched in 2010 to help individuals build a broad portfolio of direct private equity investments and since its launch has brought in more than 280 investors with a net worth of over £3 billion.

Riverside Capital has been involved in over £380 milion worth of acquisitions, disposals and re-financing across the UK and Channel Islands and currently has in excess of £418 million of assets under management.

Tom Durrant, corporate partner in Gateley's Birmingham office led the deal along with corporate solicitors James Dyson, Tom Rush and Jenna Ostrowski, he said: "Private equity investors continue to play a vitally important role in developing businesses in this challenging market and as the economy improves we expect to see significant increases in this type of activity. The Hotbed acquisition puts both Connection Capital and Riverside in a really strong position to make new investments in the future. We wish them every success in their joint venture."

Claire Madden, partner at Connection Capital said: "The commercial and client focused approach Gateley provides at every step of the transaction process is invaluable on a deal of this nature, particularly when we are working to tight timescales."

Hotbed was founded in 2002 by Claire Madden and Bernard Dale. They left the business in 2008 to concentrate on later stage private equity investments which resulted in the creation of Connection Capital.

Claire Madden added: "We are delighted to welcome Hotbed staff, investors and portfolio companies to Connection Capital. It's a perfect fit for our growing business where we see significant growth potential and an added bonus that we know many of the members and portfolio companies from our Hotbed days. It's great news to be working again with the experienced private equity and property teams and we aim to focus on delivering returns for investors by generating exits where appropriate."

Gateley was recently named 'Best Legal Adviser' in an independent report by Legal Week. The 2011 Client Satisfaction Report surveyed more than 1,000 senior in-house lawyers about service levels within 75 law firms. Gateley topped the score for personal/partner relationships and beat benchmarks on commercial and legal advice as well as service delivery.