Transactions

EGO is an award-winning secure IT disposal company, with a focus on providing sustainable recycling solutions. With a heritage spanning over three decades, EGO’s owners have been at the forefront of sustainable IT disposal solutions and their wealth of expertise has earned EGO industry wide recognition for our secure and sustainable IT disposal services.

EGO support a wide range of industries by providing secure IT disposal and comprehensive compliance reporting including WEEE and ESG CO2 reduction reports for Government offices, Education providers, Healthcare and corporate clients.

Created in 2010, Ucan offer nationwide collection services to UK businesses and organisations such as schools, universities, trusts, councils, and corporates to help remove all redundant IT equipment from their premises. Ucan perform full asset management and secure data disposal services for all customers.
EGO’s acquisitions of Ucan will enable the business to offer a full end to end service for companies disposing of their IT hardware. Furthermore, the facility provides the enlarged Group with significant capital to fund the ongoing growth of the business, which will include further M&A in what is a highly fragmented sector.

The HMT team, including Francis Drysdale and Motti Kalikshtein, acted as buy-side lead advisor and debt advisor on the transaction which included identifying suitable funding partners, developing an enlarged financial model combining the two businesses and overlaying the various debt structure offered, negotiating detailed terms of both the acquisition and debt facility, supporting the business through an extensive due diligence process and project managing the deal to a successful completion.

Ian Austin, CEO at EGO commented:
“This deal represents a key milestone for Ego as we continue to develop the businesses offering. The acquisition is a strategic move to strengthen EGO’s position in IT asset disposal solutions and by integrating Ucan’s recycling and streaming capabilities, we will create a vertically integrated model that enhances our ability to recover all valuable materials, reduce costs, and accelerate our value opportunities within the circular economy. The advice and support received from HMT’s Corporate Finance team was very professional and their expertise and tenacity kept the deal on track and helped us and the wider buyside team overcome some unexpected challenges that came up along the way.”

Andrew Thomson, Managing Partner at HMT commented:
“We are extremely pleased to have advised Ian and Melissa Austin on the acquisition of Ucan and the fundraise with Growth Lending. The transaction strengthens Ego’s position in the circular economy and represents the start of an exciting new era for Ego. By joining forces with Ucan, EGO will be able provide their customers with a complete secure IT disposal service line. We look forward to working with them again in the future as the business continues to grow and identifies and executes further acquisitions.”