[ INGENIOUS CORPORATE FINANCE]

St Ives

Ingenious Corporate Finance advised St Ives plc, the UK's leading independent print & display group, on the acquisition of Response One Holdings Limited, one of the UK’s leading and fastest growing data marketing businesses.

St Ives agreed to acquire all of the issued share capital of Response One, on a cash and debt free basis, for a multiple of 6.5x the underlying EBITDA of Response One for the year ending 31 October 2011, subject to a cap of £19 million. Approximately 70% of the consideration payable will be in cash with the balance to be satisfied by the issue of up to approximately 7.5 million new St Ives ordinary shares.

Response One helps clients design and deliver effective customer communications through more intelligent use of data. Principle services include data buying, improving data quality, and strategic campaign planning. By integrating these services into one solution, Response One has created a unique offering that has transformed multi-channel marketing activities for organisations across the UK. 

The business employs approximately 70 staff, is headquartered in Bath and has a strong client base including a number of FTSE 100 companies and household names.

The acquisition of Response One represents a further step in St Ives’s strategy to create a complementary range of digital and marketing services, whilst reducing exposure to commoditised print markets and to enable the Group to add further value to existing and new clients.

This deal is the third acquisition which Ingenious has advised St Ives on, as it continues to implement this strategy.