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Howes Percival acts for Highweald Beverages on two acquisitions


Howes Percival has acted for Highweald Beverages on the expansion of its drinks business with the acquisitions Conwy Brewery, a Welsh brewer specialising in cask and bottle conditioned ales and, Pookchurch Vineyard, an established 100-acre vineyard in Sussex’s High Weald.

The acquisitions form part of Highweald Beverages’ plans to grow its portfolio in the UK beverages market.  They follow the acquisitions in 2020 of Lake Street Vineyard and, 360 Degree Brewing Company, both of which Howes Percival advised on.  Highweald Beverages’ long-term strategy is to become a prominent, mid-market beverage company.

Highweald Beverages is supported through investment from alternative investment firm the Cadman Capital Group.

The Howes Percival team who advised Highweald Beverages was led by Miles Barnes (corporate), with support from Lucy Lord, Owen Franks, and Rosanna Langridge (commercial property), Graham Irons and Sobia Ahmad (employment), and Harriet Rogers (banking). 

The team managed the legal process on both acquisitions from start to finish, including advising on due diligence, preparing and negotiating contracts, complex property, employment, financing and regulatory issues.

Commenting on the deal, Miles Barnes, a senior associate at Howes Percival said, “We’re delighted to have advised Highweald Beverages on these acquisitions.  The food and drink sector has been hit incredibly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and by the challenges of importing and exporting goods post-Brexit.  But these deals and several others over the past few months demonstrate that there continues to be good news stories in the sector.  There are some fantastic British food and drink businesses and the appetite to invest in them, particularly in those who have developed their retail and e-commerce sales following the pandemic, remains strong.

“So far, 2021 has been an incredibly busy for Howes Percival’s transactional teams.  A significant number of businesses, particularly those in Private Equity and Venture Capital, are keen to invest whilst many existing business owners are looking to secure an exit, with the potential for future tax changes looming large.”

For more information on Howes Percival’s commercial and corporate services, please visit:  https://www.howespercival.com/services/corporate/.

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For further information please contact:

Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications (www.mawcomms.co.uk) on 01603 505 845

Notes to editors:

Howes Percival has offices in Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Norwich.  It has 49 partners and 169 lawyers in total.

The firm is recommended in The Legal 500 – the authoritative guide to the UK’s leading law firms.  In the 2021 guide, no fewer than 11 different departments achieved the guide’s highest possible ranking (Tier 1): Corporate and Commercial; Dispute Resolution – Commercial Litigation; Dispute Resolution – Debt Recovery; Finance – Insolvency and Corporate Recovery; Human Resources – Employment Law; Private Client – Agriculture and Estates; Private Client – Tax, Trusts and Probate; Real Estate – Commercial Property; Real Estate – Property litigation; Real Estate – Environment & Planning;  Intellectual Property.