Cardiff headquartered corporate advisory boutique Lexington Corporate Finance has been acquired in a £3.5m deal.
The firm, which was founded in 2015 by Gary Partridge, has been acquired by acquisitive Alternative Investment Market listed FRP Advisory. The deal marks its first acquisition in Wales and its tenth in the UK since floating in 2020.
The acquisition has been funded with £2.2m in cash (which includes £500,000 on technical completion) and £1.3m in shares. Mr Partridge joins FRP as a partner with Lexington team’s of 14 also becoming part of the group.
Lexington has a strong deal pipeline and recently open a new office in Bath targeting the south-west of England corporate advisory marketplace. Its consolidated unaudited revenues for the year to the end of April 2024 were £2.3m with an Ebitda of £600,000.
Read More: Vista Technology Support acquires Irish firm
Read More: Latest equity deals in Welsh business
On an annual basis going forward it is expected that Lexington’s underlying incremental contribution to FRP will be revenues of £2.7m and adjusted Ebitda of £700,000.
The acquisition is in line with FRP’s strategy of organic growth with acquisitions that meet its selective criteria. The latest acquisition takes it network of offices to 28. Lexington will now trade as FRP Corporate Finance.
Mr Partridge said: “We are delighted to be joining FRP and are excited at the opportunities that being part of the group presents for our team and our clients. We are all immensely proud of what we have achieved as a team at Lexington over the past nine years and being part of FRP will be a launch pad to enable us to offer a broader range of services to our clients.
“We are confident that by building upon our shared values of quality and professionalism with FRP, we will accelerate our growth.”
Geoff Rowley, chief executive of FRP Advisory said: “Wales was a target region for FRP and this acquisition further strengthens our national corporate finance business. The team will go to market locally as FRP Corporate Finance.
We are pleased to welcome Gary and the team to FRP; they share our values and I have no doubt will make a strong contribution, as we continue to grow.”
In 2023, FRP advised on more than £1.5bn worth of deals, raising more than £500m in debt funding for clients.