News Room

April 2007

Aberdeen zooms in on multimillion pound CCTV investment

Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital (“AAMGC” or “Aberdeen”) has backed the management buy-in buy-out (“BIMBO”) of Camwatch Limited, one of the UK’s leading players in the national CCTV industry. A number of Birmingham advisers orchestrated the deal including HBJ Gateley Wareing, KPMG and Wragge & Co. Strategic Corporate Finance was lead advisor to the transaction.

Based in Sheffield and employing over 60 people, Camwatch specialises in providing CCTV systems which remotely monitor a variety of sites with movement activated cameras feeding images back to a control centre. These systems are being increasingly seen as an effective alternative to manned security and are operational across a range of sites including car dealerships, shops, waste recycling depots and secure storage facilities. The company also provides hi-tech security at a growing number of construction sites in the UK, including many in the Midlands.

Aberdeen and the management team provided equity funding as part of a £6.8m investment package which also saw Barclays Asset Finance and Royal Bank of Scotland provide asset finance and a debt package respectively. The funding will be used by Camwatch to build on its current market position as the country’s leading CCTV monitoring company.

The transaction has enabled Phil Bunting, the founder and managing director, to buy-out two co-directors and also bring in new management team members. At board level, Mr Bunting has been joined by Chairman, Geoff White, and Finance Director, Glyn Abba. Andrew Ferguson who led the deal for Aberdeen also joins the Camwatch board. Further additions will be announced in the coming weeks with the appointments of an Operations Director and Commercial Director.

Advisors to the transaction were; Simon Gill and Steven Hacking of HBJ Gateley Wareing who provided legal advice to AAMGC; Andy Pyle and Joshua Martin of KPMG who undertook financial due diligence; Neil Pearson of Wragge & Co, who provided tax advice to AAMGC; and Richard May of DLA who provided legal advice to the management team.

Other advisors included Midlands Leadership Limited, who undertook management assessment due diligence; MBD, who provided commercial due diligence; Armstrong Craven, who undertook management referencing; and Microguide who undertook a due diligence review of the company’s IT systems.

Andrew Ferguson, Senior Investment Manager, Growth Capital, commented:

“We are backing a management team that has developed a market leading product which has generated significant customer demand particularly in the construction sector. The team has considerable experience and skill in CCTV installation and monitoring and with this investment, the company is now well placed to exploit the opportunities that Phil and his team have identified.”

Phil Bunting, Managing Director, Camwatch Limited, commented:

“We have invested more than £1.5m in recent years on our monitoring centre; now working in partnership with Aberdeen we are in a position to increase capacity, expand our operations and achieve the growth we are aiming for.”