Birmingham based Artbrand Publishing Ltd is a supplier of tailored products to major high street retail outlets including the likes of Dwell, Habitat and House of Frazer. The company adds value by designing dynamic, unique and exclusive branded portfolios. The business aims to deliver an art category to their clients that generate improved, sales, profits, competitive advantage and customer loyalty.
Blue Sky Corporate Finance have worked with the owner/managers of Artbrand to put together a blended package of finance to support the growth aspirations of the company including trade finance, asset finance and equity. The equity element of this package was concluded in February 2011 and resulted in the West Midlands based Advantage Creative Fund* securing a strategic minority stake in the business.
Veejay Lingiah, Managing Director, Artbrand Publishing said, “We knew that we needed finance for our rapid growth but when we entered into this process I assumed that this would all come from one source. Blue Sky Corporate Finance have provided invaluable help and advice, introduced us to the various finance providers, assisted us through the fund raising process, led the negotiation of the investment terms and supported us all of the way.”
Paul Heaven, Managing Director, Blue Sky Corporate Finance commented, “Artbrand is a great organisation with a strong business model and quality management. As the company grows it will benefit the local economy and especially local artists. From the outset of this project it was clear to me that the finance that the company needed to suport its expansion plans would come from a blended package of financial instruments. Artbrands could have probably raised all of the funds that they needed from equity capital alone but they may have surrendered a significant proportion of equity to do so. In the event the owner/managers have ceded only a minority stake of the equity to secure all of the finance (and probably more) that the company is likely to need to deliver its short-medium term plans.”
For further information about Artbrand Publishing Ltd, please visit www.artbrand.co.uk
*Advantage Creative Fund is a £5M venture capital fund set up specifically to assist the growth of the creative industries in the West Midlands
