Trillium Partners Limited (Trillium), the specialist media sector corporate finance advisory firm, announces that it has closed its third year as adviser to Loewy Group (Loewy) with the completion of a £23m balance sheet restructuring for its client. The restructuring was approved by the company’s shareholders on 18th December, 2009.

Loewy is a leading UK marketing services company active in the fields of research and planning, product innovation and design, branding, marketing communications, PR and production.

Trillium Partners specialises in financial restructuring, M&A and fund raising transactions and corporate finance advice for media sector clients. The firm’s core expertise in digital media provides support for clients as they undertake transactions and raise funding to position themselves for future growth in digital revenues.

Trillium Partners advised Loewy on all aspects of the restructuring. In particular, Trillium: (a) facilitated and conducted bilateral and multi-party negotiations with various stakeholders including the Board, lenders, shareholders and key management; (b) supported the Board in its communication with third parties, the management of third party advisers and the modelling and analysis of its liquidity position and potential new capital structure options; and (c) guided the Board through the restructuring process and explored various “alternative” plans to derive a sustainable solution to Loewy’s situation.

The restructuring included a conversion to equity of £17m of mezzanine debt held by Veronis Suhler Stevenson and ABRY Partners, who also subscribed for £3m of new equity funding. This has significantly strengthened the company’s balance sheet and Loewy is now well-positioned for growth in 2010 and beyond.

This transaction follows an initial engagement with Loewy in 2007, when Trillium raised £16m for the company to support its M&A strategy. Trillium has provided advice to Loewy continuously throughout this period, reflecting Trillium’s emphasis on long-term client commitment.

Iain Johnston, Loewy CEO, commented:
“Trillium’s advice during the period we have worked with them has been insightful, astute and imaginative. They are specialists in our area, are extremely well-connected and have proven to be highly skilled and energetic in helping us close a complex transaction”

David Holland, Managing Director at VSS, said:
“Trillium worked tenaciously on the company’s behalf and successfully negotiated between the main parties in this restructure. We have worked with Trillium over a number of years and appreciate their expertise, capability and integrity”.

Stephen Routledge of Trillium added:
“Agencies like Loewy are seeing massive change around them, and the approach which helped Loewy to raise new finance to support future growth is something more agencies could benefit from. We are expecting over 50% of agencies in 2010 to fundamentally change their funding or business models due to either external pressures or internal initiatives.”

About Trillium Partners
Trillium Partners is an independent mid-market firm that advises listed companies, private firms and financial sponsors on M&A and Private Capital raising transactions valued at £20 million to £500 million in the B2B Information Services and Events, Consumer Media, Learning and Development, and Marketing Services.

Over the last 30 years, we have advised our clients on a comprehensive array of transactions in the UK, Europe, USA and Asia, with an aggregate value in excess of £10 billion. Underpinned by deep sector knowledge and insight, our expertise extends from private acquisitions and disposals to public offers and raising capital from the private equity, family office, banking and alternative finance communities for working capital, business development, acquisitions and buy-outs.

For more information regarding this transaction, please contact Stephen Routledge or Philip Mastriforte on +44 (0)20 3008 8375