PKF Smith Cooper’s Fire & Security specialists assist Duke Royalty on £5m funding into sector consolidator New Path

International alternative capital solutions provider Duke Royalty has provided £5 million debt royalty financing to New Path Fire and Security (New Path), an investment holding company operating in the UK&I fire and security (“F&S”) sector. The funding agreement also involved Duke Royalty becoming a 15% shareholder in New Path, and agreeing a total funding commitment of up to £20 million to support New Path’s buy-and-build strategy across the UK.

Duke Royalty turned to PKF SC Corporate Finance to support its first deal in the F&S sector due to the PKF team’s growing specialism and expertise in the sector. PKF’s role was to undertake a comprehensive commercial diligence exercise on New Path, its position in the market, and the wider F&S market.

PKF has developed a significant specialism in the F&S market in recent years, its track record including assisting integrated security and fire safety solutions specialist Total Integrated Solutions in securing investment from private equity house Key Capital Partners.

New Path is a fast-growing investment platform, focused on acquiring independent fire safety and security companies throughout the South of England. Its group companies cover all aspects of fire safety including installation, maintenance, servicing, testing and monitoring, and a variety of security services, including CCTV and door entry systems. New Path has acquired seven businesses since it was established in 2020, and the £5 million funding from Duke Royalty will fund a further two acquisitions which are currently at advanced stages in New Path’s pipeline.

Commenting on the deal and PKF’s role, Alex Hibbard, Vice President at Duke Royalty, said: “Duke is excited to be partnering with New Path to support their buy and build strategy; we look forward to helping them to continue consolidating a mission-critical sector. Duke looked to the PKF Smith Cooper CF team for a review of the sectors and sub-sectors that New Path operates in, addressing a detailed scope with well-researched analysis, delivered in a short time window. We were happy with their insightful output, which was delivered within our timeframe.”

James Ward, Corporate Finance Director at PKF Smith Cooper and leader of the F&S team, said: “It’s been a privilege to assist Duke Royalty in making its first funding transaction in the F&S sector; they recognised the potential of New Path’s plan to create a group of specialist F&S businesses with a diverse service offering in the highly fragmented F&S sector. Duke’s funding package will enable New Path to complete on two deals in advanced stages of negotiation, and to continue their expansion thereafter. We wish New Path’s management and Duke Royalty, with which we’ve worked on two previous transactions, every success with their strategy.”

PKF Smith Cooper is an award-winning advisory and accountancy firm; PKF Smith Cooper’s Corporate Finance team was crowned ‘SME Advisory Team of the Year’ at Insider’s 2022 Midlands Dealmakers Awards this autumn.

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