People ask whether the so called credit crunch is impacting on the SME corporate finance market. Probably not on deals below £100m – and certainly not so based on PEM Corporate Finance’s current experience.

We continue to see strong deal flow. In one recent week we completed two transactions – the sale of a 75 per cent stake in inkjet technology specialist Xennia Technology to Royal Dutch Ten Cate, the Netherlands based textiles and specialist materials group and the Management Buyout of award winning Cambridge jewellery specialist, Cellini.

In addition we have a strong pipeline with further completions expected before the end of the tax year – some of these driven by the impending changes in capital gains tax legislation. Might I offer all this as a reasonable excuse for not having posted for so long?!

Xennia is the world’s first one stop inkjet solutions house, offering a customised service for industrial
applications from initial concept through product development to final printer and ink supply. Xennia combines innovative chemistry and first class engineering to provide integrated inkjet systems.

Its customers include global blue chip companies, equipment manufacturers, and hi-tech start-ups. Xennia has averaged sales growth of around 35 per cent per annum in the last three years.

The company owns a strong intellectual property portfolio and a number of key technology platforms for inks, coating fluids and hardware.

Ten Cate is listed on NYSE, Euronext and the Amsterdam stock exchange. Xaar plc, the inkjet printing technology group headquartered in Cambridge, is a minority shareholder in Xennia and will retain its holding.

Jewellery company Cellini is based in Cambridge. The business was founded in 1981 by its managing director, John Carter, who has now secured succession by selling the business to his three fellow directors Howard Carter (no relation), Antonio De Nunzio, and Peter Hering.

Cellini is an independent company of designers and makers of fine jewellery. It has its own workshops, and holds the largest selection of pearls in the country.

Cellini also makes bespoke designs to client specifications. It is unique amongst jewellers in being fully integrated from manufacture to retail, and in the scale of its operations from its Rose Crescent base.

It is nice to be able to report that the legal work on both the deals featured in this post was handled locally, with John Short of Taylor Vinters representing Xennia and John Carter of Cellini; Jason Wiliams of Hewitsons representing the management team at Cellini; Simon Walker of Taylor Wessing representing Ten Cate; and Zickie Lim of Mills & Reeve representing Xaar on the Xennia transaction.