MBO at Stobbs IP

We acted as advisers to Julius Stobbs on a management buy out that will provide independence and an increased market focus for the business.

PEM acted as advisers to Julius Stobbs, who set up the division within iPulse in 2009, on a management buy out that provides independence and an increased market focus for the business. Julius’s original team of 11 staff quickly expanded and comprised 23 staff when the transaction completed.

Formerly the Cambridge trademark division of iPulse, Stobbs IP is a trade mark consultancy firm based in Cambridge. The business offers a variety of services relating to IP, covering copyright, design and domain name creation to management, enforcement and exploitation. Set up in 2009, the business has been awarded Tier 2 status by The Legal 500 and boasts clients such as Tesco and O2.

We supported Julius through a protracted series of negotiations. Raising of finance for the transaction also took some time due to a lack of liquidity in the banking market (at the time) for transactions of this type.

The deal was supported with term lending from HSBC using the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme alongside equity from management.