The Kings Hill-based law firm has welcomed Peter Presland and Ram Gidoomal to its ranks. The businessmen have both enjoyed long and successful careers, serving in a number of board and senior management positions for a wide range of international companies across the public and private sectors.

Irfan Baluch, Chief Executive at Vertex Law, said Peter and Ram had plenty to offer the business.

“Our new strategic advisors boast a wealth of invaluable business experience. They have each enjoyed very successful business careers and we are looking forward to working with them to grow and develop Vertex Law.”

Ram holds a number of positions across the private, public and voluntary sectors. He is Chairman of Winning Communications Partnership Ltd, a company he set up in 1992 to provide management consultancy services, and Citylife Industrial & Provident Society Ltd.

The Surrey-based entrepreneur said: “I am delighted to be joining the experienced team at Vertex Law, which includes experts in a number of fields. I hope I can add value to Vertex and help the company continue to grow in the coming years.”

Peter, who was born in Rochester and now lives in Biddenden, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and currently serves as Chairman at recruitment, payroll and HR software provider Safe Computing Ltd, and Quercus Financial, a start-up seeking to exploit new concepts in the retail card and loyalty scheme markets. He is also a Non-Executive Director of John Holmans & Sons, the oldest Lloyd’s broker, and was for many years the first independent Chairman of LINK, the company which runs the UK ATM cash machine network.

Peter said: “I am very excited to be working with Vertex Law, which has an excellent reputation in the industry. In addition to advising on strategy, I am pleased to bring Vertex’s services to the attention of the companies that need them.”

For more information on Vertex Law, visit www.vertexlaw.co.uk. To contact Hazel Dermody, email hazel.dermody@vertexlaw.co.uk or call 01732 224000.

The company’s recent purchase was for the business of the Caterham and Alton offices of a subsidiary of AIM-listed Cobra Holdings in a deal worth more than £5m. It followed Aston Scott’s acquisition of the business of Croydon based insurance brokers Francis Townsend & Hayward in October.

The company, which has 10 branches throughout the UK, was recently named as a Kent 2011 ‘Mega Growth’ business and has worked alongside Vertex for some years.

“Aston Scott is a well regarded group with a track record of successful acquisition and integration over many years,” said Salim Somjee of the Kings Hill corporate and commercial law firm.

“I have been delighted to work with the business on both of its recent acquisitions and to see the company go from strength to strength.”

“The acquisition of these new businesses is part of our ongoing strategy of carefully controlled growth,” said Aston Scott Group plc Chairman Andrew Scott. 

“The group has developed through organic growth, acquisition and diversification, now employing around 200 staff.

“We believe in offering our clients a service which is tailored to their needs and this includes employing staff of the highest calibre across a network of regional offices.  By developing a long term relationship and gaining a real understanding of their needs we are able to provide bespoke risk management and insurance solutions. 

“This focus on a professional and personal service coupled with tailored, expert advice is what we look for in our suppliers – and that is the reason we enjoy such a good relationship with Vertex Law.”

Caroline Young, Gemma Butler and Ben Deeble-Rogers all proved they had a head for heights through taking on the KM Charity Abseil Challenge in aid of the Foundation while Hazel Dermody completed a 10-mile Rotary Ramble. Vertex employees also raised money through office bake offs, food sales, monthly mentoring of children and donations of a truck filled with household goods to help those leaving the care of the Caldecott Foundation move into their own accommodation. Vertex also has a monthly lunch open to all staff cooked by its budding chefs and representing a variety of food from around the world. Vertex’s monthly lunches are becoming quite a feature in the Vertex calendar!

Topping off their fundraising campaign, Vertex decided to put money usually spent on sending Christmas cards to clients and referrers towards buying the children presents.

Irfan Baluch, CEO at Vertex Law, said: “Buying presents for the children seemed a fitting end to the year. We are delighted to have been able to raise funds for the Caldecott Foundation, which supports some of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

“I would like to thank everyone who has sponsored our staff in their various fundraising efforts and helped us raise more than £1,600 for the Foundation.”

For more information contact Hazel Dermody, email hazel.dermody@vertexlaw.co.uk or call 01732 224 000.

Heathfield-based TFC Ltd, which is one of Europe's leading suppliers of technical fasteners to industry and manufacturing, has acquired ESF Ltd, a Yorkshire company with a strong presence in the north of England. The £1.5 million deal is TFC’s third acquisition in as many years.

The opportunity was introduced to TFC by the corporate finance team of Crowe Clark Whitehill, a leading national firm offering audit, tax and business advisory services with local offices in Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone. The team negotiated with the vendors and advisors of ESF and managed the acquisition process on behalf of TFC from start to finish.

Expert legal advice to help complete the transaction was provided by Vertex Law, a Kent-based firm of corporate and commercial lawyers. Finance was secured from NatWest and RBS Invoice Finance.

This deal was hot on the heels of the acquisition in June of Specialised Fastener Products Ltd, a transaction where Crowe Clark Whitehill also provided the corporate finance advice and Vertex provided legal advice.

Martin Clarke, Joint Managing Director at TFC Europe Ltd, said: “The acquisition of ESF Ltd demonstrates our commitment to grow the business further and provide an extensive range of products and services to our customers.

“We are delighted to welcome the ESF team to the TFC family and offer an enhanced service to all of ESF’s existing customers as well as new ones.

“The careful implementation of our buy-and-build strategy has been greatly assisted by the support provided by our professional advisers, in particular Vertex Law and Crowe Clark Whitehill, as well as the financial backing of NatWest.”

James Beatton, Corporate Partner at Vertex Law, added: “We have worked with TFC on its two most recent acquisitions dealing with the commercial legal aspects of the deals as well as financial matters. The group is the ideal client with a strong, motivated management team, an inclusive approach to its professional advisers and a clear strategy for growth.”

Geert Struyven, Corporate Finance Partner at Crowe Clark Whitehill, said: “I have worked with TFC now for over five years on all their acquisitions and I continue to be impressed with the management team. They achieve consistent growth and continually improve profitability through a mixture of organic expansion and acquisitions, even in a difficult economic climate.

Headquartered in Heathfield, and with operations also in Colchester, Walsall, Bochum in Germany and an office in Costa Rica, TFC supplies bespoke fasteners to industry. It also supplies more than 10,000 off-the-shelf fastening solutions, including panel, pipe and wire fasteners, springs and seals, to businesses in 24 countries around the world. As a company, TFC counts Bosch, Daimler AG, ZF Group, Bombardier Transportation Limited and Delphi Diesel Systems Limited among its 3,000 international customers.

TFC is largely funded through Sevenoaks-based private equity investor Foresight Group, which has a successful track record in finding, developing and exiting unquoted companies and providing between £1-£5 million of equity finance.

The previous two acquisitions made by TFC were Specialised Fastener Products Ltd and Cavalier Fasteners.

For more information on Vertex Law, visit www.vertexlaw.co.uk or call 01732 224000.

Caption (L-R): Mathew Glentworth of NatWest;
 James Beatton of Vertex Law; 
Martin Clarke of TFC Europe Ltd; 
Donald Maclennan of Foresight Group
; and Geert Struyven of Crowe Clark Whitehill.

The 4.9 megawatt solar farm covers 26 acres of the former SCA paper mill site, which closed in 2009 with the loss of 130 jobs.

Believed to be largest solar farm in Kent, the installation will provide enough green electricity to meet the needs of some 1,000 homes.

The project was developed by Network Economy Group, an international investment and management company with expertise in renewable technologies. Legal advice was provided by Kings Hill based Vertex Law.

“The new solar farm at Aylesford is an ambitious project that demonstrates how new technologies can regenerate brownfield sites and help create a more sustainable future,” said Oliver Breidt, Partner of Network Economy Group. “Working with Vertex Law, we were able to complete the project to a tight timetable and are delighted that all aspects of the development are now complete and that it has received official Ofgem accreditation.”

Jeremy Licence, Head of the Commercial Team at Vertex Law, added: “Renewable energy technologies are increasingly coming to the fore in business and will continue to grow in importance as part of the Government’s commitment to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“Being in the sunny South East, Kent businesses are well-placed to benefit from solar energy but as with all commercial transactions it pays to take expert advice from people with a track record in the industry.”

For more information on Vertex visit www.vertexlaw.co.uk or call 01732 224000.

The Kings Hill-based firm carried out all the acquisition legal work on the £1.6 million deal which saw Hollywood Classics Limited (HC) taken over by the Metrodome Group plc.

The buyout allows the Metrodome Group to add many iconic movies of yesteryear to its existing stock of film, TV and digital content as HC represents the classic film libraries of many of the leading studios and independents, with a strong back catalogue that also includes legendary titles such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Psycho.

Vertex Law’s Mergers & Acquisitions lawyer Salim Somjee said, “We were delighted to assist the Metrodome Group in its acquisition of Hollywood Classics.

Metrodome is an exciting client, introduced to us by former member and now consultant, Stuart Butler-Gallie, that operates in a fascinating world. We used our transactional expertise and the know-how of our commercial and technology and media teams to ensure the deal was completed in line with Metrodome’s expectations.

It was a pleasure to work with Metrodome and its team of advisers.”

Metrodome Chairman Mark Webster said, “This important acquisition is the next step in our mission to become one of the leading independent rights management groups in the UK providing independent producers and other intellectual property owners with a comprehensive solution for worldwide exploitation of their IP and content across all platforms.

We are very grateful to all the staff at Vertex Law who ensured the acquisition was seamless from the initial outset of the deal through to completion.”

Metrodome Group’s library of rights includes 4000 hours of television programming and more than 300 feature films.

Aside from representing the classic film libraries of studios such as Universal, Paramount, the UK Film Council and Twentieth Century Fox, HC also distributes a growing number of studio classic films for the DVD market as well as a total library of more than 700 films for television, DVD and Video On Demand.

For more information on Vertex please visit www.vertexlaw.co.uk or call 01732 224000.

Nelsons, which prides itself on its good working relationships with its many distributors, was compelled by circumstances to commence proceedings in November 2008. Guna Spa, Nelsons’ former exclusive Italian distributor, had distributed its well known Bach Flower Remedies™ and Rescue Remedy® in Italy for many years. When the agreement was brought to an end, Guna refused to surrender the product registrations necessary to sell the Remedies in Italy.

Nelsons was represented by Rebecca Tinham, Head of Vertex Law’s Dispute Resolution Team. Guna Spa was represented by large City firm Baker & McKenzie.

This hugely significant case for Nelsons was made all the more demanding as a consequence of:-

• the defendant being based in Italy
• Guna’s actions preventing Nelsons from selling directly into Italy, a historically very successful and valued market, pending a court decision in its favour forcing the distributor to transfer the registrations
• the complexities of a ‘frozen’ Italian regime for the sale of homeopathic products which impacted on the effect of the terms of the parties’ distribution agreement
• the assertions made by the Italian defendant that Nelsons could somehow market its product legitimately without its registrations

In the course of a strongly contested application for an injunction forcing the immediate transfer of the registrations at the very beginning of the case, His Honour Judge Mackie QC (sitting as a judge of the Commercial Court) directed that the parties explore with the relevant regulators in Italy whether both parties could trade under the authority of the same set of product registrations. It took the Italian regulators nearly a year to confirm that this was not possible; Nelsons then went back to court and was successful in securing the injunction it applied for immediately upon being excluded from the market.

The Commercial Court tried liability and mitigation issues in March this year and judgment was handed down on 16th May. His Honour Judge Mackie QC found that Nelsons had a contractual right to the return of its registrations and made the interim injunction granted in December 2009 permanent. Guna’s arguments that Nelsons had failed to reasonably mitigate its losses were described by the judge as ‘fanciful’.

The quantification of damages will be decided at a second trial in July this year.

Commenting on the case Rebecca Tinham said:-

“High worth commercial cases such as this put all involved under a huge amount of pressure. For the client, the burden of giving instructions, decision making and giving evidence can be a heavy one to bear. It is crucial that the right personalities are selected to lead and support the team.

For sensible commercial people, embarking on big ticket litigation is rarely a ‘choice’ in any real sense – it is something that they are driven to by circumstances. Good relationships and appropriate expertise are key. We still have a little way to go to reach a conclusion but this is a major milestone”

The UK legal team consisted of Rebecca Tinham and Louise Worton of Vertex Law and Fergus Randolph QC and Sarah Abram of Brick Court Chambers.

Mike Dunne, Nelsons Group Finance Director said:-

“It was disappointing that we were forced into litigation to restore our position in the Italian market and we are delighted that this has finally been achieved.  It has been a difficult process when the management priority is to run a business rather than spend huge time and effort on litigation. 

However, the tremendous support we received from Rebecca and the Vertex team on an almost round the clock basis on some occasions made the journey as painless as possible. Together with our Barristers they provided us with confidence that we had the best team for the job as demonstrated by the judge’s decision and comments.”

MTS Cleansing Services Ltd, which is based on the Kingsnorth Works, near Hoo St Werburgh, is investing £1.9m buying and installing two New Zealand-designed in-vessel composting units that can turn sewage grits and screening waste into valuable fertiliser in just 12 days.

The machines are being built in converted buildings near the MTS head office and will be ready to start treating their first waste in April, material that would until recently have gone to landfill.

“We have a fleet of 220 vehicles collecting sewage locally and across the South East from the main sewage network run by the utilities as well as sewage treatment farms,” said MTS Managing Director Antony Crust. “The waste we collect contains nitrogen and rather than dumping the sewage we’re going to be turning it into a valuable resource. If you compost it using the technology we’re investing in, it turns into safe, odourless, eco-friendly fertiliser, just like the compost you buy in bags at DIY stores.

“Agricultural land will benefit from this product – as will farmers, who love it, because it’s greener and cheaper than chemical fertiliser. We already have a consortium of ten farmers with approximately 50,000 acres of land available to take anything we produce.”

MTS has set up a sister company, Composting Facility Services (CFS), to run the composting side of its business and has big plans for the venture which has received bank funding from Santander Corporate Banking, financial advice from Maidstone-based accountants Nash Harvey and legal advice from Kings Hill corporate specialists Vertex Law.

The company aims to buy a further four ‘HotRot’ composting units in the next 12 months, enabling it to treat 27,000 tonnes of sewage waste a year. By the end of the decade CFS wants to have 50 in-vessel composter units in place across southern England.

“We were supported by a first class professional team and were very impressed by the open and honest approach taken by Santander Corporate Banking,” added Antony Crust. “We look forward to working with them all again in the future as our plans for the new business develop.

“The advice we received from Vertex Law may not always have been what we wanted to hear at the time but they were right in the end and have given us a good start for the future.  Nash Harvey have been longstanding advisers of MTS and their financial advice on this deal was once again spot on.”

MTS’ plans have been given the blessing of the Environment Agency, which has granted the company the necessary permit to treat sewage waste in the new composting units.

“I think the Environment Agency will be very interested in seeing the new composting plant in action,” said Antony. “Although the technology has been tried and tested in New Zealand, it’s new to the UK. The HotRot technology has some fantastic benefits but you almost have to see it to believe it.

“We insisted on flying out to New Zealand to witness the process for ourselves and we were astonished that there was no unpleasant odour and that at the end of 12 days sewage had been turned into a pasteurised product that you could handle with complete comfort and safety and that farmers are happy to apply to their fields.

“This is a very exciting development for MTS. We want to be financially successful but we are also conscious of our environmental responsibilities. This new investment represents the start of a valuable new business opportunity for us but one that reduces the miles our lorries travel on the road and transforms a substance that used to be a problem into something that is an eco-friendly substitute for chemical fertilisers.”

For more information about MTS, please visit www.mtscleansing.co.uk. For more information on Vertex visit www.vertexlaw.co.uk or call 01732 224000.