Quercus Corporate Finance is delighted to announce the sale of the business and assets of Camp Hopson Funerals on behalf of Camp Hopson & Co Limited.

The Quercus team advised the Board of Camp Hopson & Co Limited (“Camp Hopson”) on the sale of the business and assets of Camp Hopson Funerals to Dignity plc for an undisclosed amount.

Camp Hopson is a 5th generation family business that has been in the heart of Newbury for over 100 years. The sale of the funerals business is the third M&A transaction that Quercus have advised on for Camp Hopson over the past 18 months and clearly demonstrates our focus on building longstanding trusted adviser relationships with our clients.  Quercus previously advised on the successful sales of the group's retail operations in 2014 and their removals business earlier this year.

Neil Giles, Senior Director, said:

“We value our relationship with Camp Hopson very highly and these are excellent deals for both the group, and the management and staff of the various businesses involved.  Across three complex transactions we have sourced partners in Morley Stores (retail), Dignity plc (Funerals) and Ward Thomas (Removals) who have excellent track records of acquiring independent businesses, maintaining brands and using their expertise to develop businesses and giving staff enhanced opportunities as part of a larger group.”

Jonathan Hopson, Director of Camp Hopson added:

“Over the past 18 months we have been delighted with the advice, quality of service and the seamless manner that Quercus integrated into our team.   We are extremely grateful to them and in particular the skills they demonstrated in presenting the various businesses to prospective buyers with the focus very much on future potential rather than historical performance."

The Quercus team advised the Board of Camp Hopson & Co Limited (“Camp Hopson”) on the sale of Camp Hopson Removals Limited to London-based removals group, Ward Thomas, for an undisclosed sum.

Camp Hopson is a 5th generation family business that has been in the heart of Newbury for over 100 years.  This is our second transaction for the Group in two years as we successfully sold their retail operations in November 2014.

Following this sale and a strategic review undertaken by the Board, the decision was taken that it was in the best interests of both the shareholders and employees to sell Camp Hopson Removals to an organisation that had the expertise, experience and track record to fully exploit the opportunities available to the business.

New Giles, Senior Director at Quercus said:

“This is an excellent deal not just for Camp Hopson, but also for the staff and management of Camp Hopson Removals.  We have sourced a partner in Ward Thomas who understands the removals market and has a successful track record of acquiring family owned businesses, investing in them and leveraging their USPs. We are delighted to have been lead adviser on this transaction."

Jonathan Hopson, Director of Camp Hopson added:  

“We are delighted that we appointed Quercus Corporate Finance as our adviser.  Their understanding of how best to present our business secured us a first class price and also made sure there were no surprises for us or Ward Thomas.  This made a significant difference to the outcome. As with all transactions there were some complexities, however Quercus’s ability to find solutions and to bring parties together in a non-adversarial way to find solutions is very impressive.”