Castle Corporate Finance Limited (“Castle”) has advised leading dental communications company Finlayson Media Communications Limited (“FMC”) in relation to its management buy-out, backed by Coniston Capital LLP (“Coniston”).
FMC is a trusted dentistry media brand, connecting dental professionals to their industry through multiple channels including websites such as dentistry.co.uk, publications including Dentistry and Private Dentistry, exhibitions and awards. FMC’s audience of over 98,000 dental professionals enables a wide reach for its media partners.
The business was founded by Ken Finlayson in 1994 and is now led by its management team comprising Craig Welling, Jason Newington and Tim Molony.
The partnership with Coniston will reinforce FMC’s plans to expand its digital and events offerings and to build on its subscription service, The Dentistry Club, where dental professionals can access CPD and online learning facilities.
Craig Welling commented: “To deliver our growth plan we required a partner that understood what we are looking to build. We firmly believe that, with Coniston’s support, we will build on our position in the industry and realise the company’s ambition.”
Craig continued: “Victoria and Alex at Castle were fantastic and provided invaluable support and guidance throughout the process. This is a transformational change for us and the business, and we could not have had a better team to guide us through the complexities of the deal.”
Alfred Chambers, who led the transaction for Coniston and will join the board of FMC, said: “From the moment Castle introduced the team to us, we recognised that they are industry experts, having already built a market leading offering. Our partnership will support Craig, Jason and Tim and we are confident that FMC’s plans for the future will stand them in good stead to become a full-service operator that helps dental professionals to progress their careers.”
Castle director, Victoria Ansell, added: “It was a pleasure to work with Ken, Jason, Craig and Tim to help achieve this transformational event for FMC. We were introduced to Ken by Ed Hoare at RWK Goodman a couple of years ago, and had explored various options with him since then as to how succession for the business could be secured. It became clear that Jason, Craig and Tim have strong ambitions to lead the business through its next phase of growth and development, and we were pleased to introduce them to Coniston, who expressed immediate enthusiasm to support them on this journey. I very much look forward to watching their progress over the months and years ahead.”
FMC was advised on the transaction by Castle Corporate Finance (Victoria Ansell, Alex Nursey), Gunnercooke LLP (Peter Savage, Sarah Hillebron), Mercer & Hole (Philip Fenn, Jacqui Gudgion)
Coniston was advised on the transaction by Browne Jacobson (Mike Jackson, Matt Dorman, Sonia Bains), Crowe (Dan Nixon, Ioanna-Maria Kasinou, Alex Slater, Emma Reynolds), Claritas (Ses Memhi) and BlairWest (Chris Marshall, Nigel Spurr)
Ken Finlayson was advised by RWK Goodman (Edward Hoare, Bharti Moore)
