London, 19 December 2018: Beringea announces that it has advised and arranged debt funding to Donatantonio Ltd, the fine food importer and distributor. The debt funding, provided by Beringea’s ProVen Legacy, will be used to support the financing of Donatantonio’s merger with Compleat Food Network, combining the expertise of two of the UK’s most experienced ingredient sourcing firms.
With an annual turnover approaching £40m per annum, the new company will offer a comprehensive product range to a larger customer base and is intent on developing exciting opportunities to work with both customers and suppliers on future growth initiatives.
The two management teams will combine as one board, ensuring continuity and consistency across all existing arrangements and future operations. Simon Bell becomes CEO of the new company, with Tim Scarborough as Commercial Director, Manish Mandavia as Finance Director and Liz Pedder as Non-Executive Director.
The businesses will continue to operate unchanged in the short term while dedicated project teams look to combine and optimise the new company’s culture and operations over the coming months. Once this has been successfully undertaken, the company will release further details of our exciting plans for the future.
Simon Bell, CEO, commented: “Our two businesses share a commitment to product quality and customer service, which will continue to be at the heart of everything we do, and we look forward to enhancing our offer to customers and creating new opportunities for our suppliers.”
Tim Scarborough, Commercial Director, added: “This is an exciting time to be joining forces with a company that shares our ethos and passion, and represents a great opportunity to use our combined strengths to meet diverse customer needs in an ever-changing environment.”
Mark Taylor, Partner at Beringea LLP, the Lending Adviser to ProVen Legacy, commented: “Donatantonio is a longstanding and significant member of Beringea’s portfolio of entrepreneurial companies in the UK. ProVen Legacy’s support for the business through this funding package is testament to the strength of the business and its proposed merger with Compleat.”
ProVen Legacy was set up by Beringea in 2017 to help investors mitigate inheritance tax using Business Property Relief, an incentive established by the UK government to encourage investment into trading businesses. Investors in ProVen Legacy will benefit from up to 100 percent inheritance tax relief on the value of their shares, provided that they have been held for at least two years at the time of death. Investments will be used to support growing companies across a range of industries as they enter the later stages of their scaling journeys, offering loans of up to £5 million.
