Roythornes completes double Frontline Agriculture deal
Leading the YAGRO acquisition was Mike Matthews, a partner in the corporate and commercial department who heads up the mergers and acquisitions team
Roythornes Solicitors has supported its long-standing client Frontier Agriculture on two “complex” deals.
The team took the lead on setting up the legal documentation for the multi-million-pound Navara Oat Milling project – a joint venture between Frontier Agriculture, Camgrain and Anglia Maltings Holdings – to deliver the largest modern oat milling factory in Europe.
The second deal was delivering the acquisition of YAGRO, a leading provider of data analytics for the UK agricultural industry. Roythornes advised Frontier on the acquisition, leading the complex due diligence and contract documentation, and working alongside the financial and technical due diligence advisors together with Frontier’s experienced acquisition team.
Julia Seary, a partner at Roythornes who led the team working on the Navara Oat Milling deal, said: “We were responsible for co-ordinating and project managing the joint venture legal work between Frontier Agriculture, Camgrain and Anglia Maltings Holdings as well as the banking, corporate shareholder, and construction contracts.
“This was a significant, multi-faceted deal that we took the lead on, while acting on behalf of Frontier, so we worked closely with the other two firms’ legal representation to ensure all parties were aligned and the joint venture was completed without a hitch.”
She added: “In total, we had at least seven members of the team across three different departments working on this project at any one time, so it’s been an exciting six months. We’re delighted to see the deal completed and works beginning on site in Northamptonshire for this cutting-edge facility.”
Leading the YAGRO acquisition was Mike Matthews, a partner in the corporate and commercial department who heads up the mergers and acquisitions team at Roythornes.
He said: “It was an exciting project to be involved in with Frontier, and a great outcome for both buyer and the sellers. YAGRO will be a standalone independent subsidiary of the Frontier Group, having built a strong reputation for nimble design and deployment of practical software solutions for farmers, advisers, and the supply chain.
“Agricultural technology is an interesting space to be working in at the moment, and one in which we are seeing lots of activity, so this is a really exciting deal and I look forward to seeing what they do next with Frontier now behind them.”
Diana MacDuff, financial director at Frontier Agriculture, added: “We have really enjoyed working with the Roythornes team on both transactions. The team understand our approach to transactions very well and are very responsive to our needs, particularly at the end of the transaction when there are a lot of documents to be reviewed and turned around.
“I am also really impressed with the calibre of the junior members of the Roythornes team, which means that we get great service whoever we speak to.”
