Lewis Silkin advises Sideshow Group on its acquisition of TRGT Digital
26 July 2021
Lewis Silkin has advised Sideshow Group, the award-winning independent digital agency, on its acquisition of TRGT Digital. The acquisition is Sideshow’s first since Waterland Private Equity made a significant investment in February, to support its ambitious growth plans.
Sideshow Group aims to become a global leader in evidence-driven digital communications. In February, Lewis Silkin supported this ambition by assisting Sideshow with the investment by Waterland. This investment was intended to accelerate Sideshow’s growth in delivering meaningful and measurable impact to its clients, and by helping retain and attract the best people in the industry.
The TRGT acquisition is the first transaction following the Waterland investment and evidences the speed with which this partnership intends to deliver. TRGT is one of the UK and Europe’s fastest growing and most successful performance marketing agencies with a global remote workforce and a significant presence in the UK, Spain and India.
Sideshow Group offers clients a highly-connected family of specialist agencies including Vertical Leap, Thinking Juice, Bunnyfoot, Conversion and now TRGT, that together provide modern digital services ranging from experience design to conversion rate optimisation which ultimately drives traffic and revenue growth for brands. Sideshow’s evidence-driven proposition enables clients to make informed and data-driven decisions that supercharge their digital transformation and marketing. Customer-centricity is the cornerstone of the Group’s approach.
With this acquisition, Sideshow will employ over 300 employees across six offices. The Group has enjoyed tremendous revenue, client and headcount growth since it was founded in 2010, driven by organic growth as well as a proven acquisition strategy. Lewis Silkin are delighted to have worked alongside the Sideshow team on three transactions to date.
The Lewis Silkin team was led by corporate partner, Jo Evans, with support from tax partner, Matthew Rowbotham, corporate senior associate, Francesca Ainsworth and corporate associate, Joe Lythgoe. The legal due diligence team also included Stacy Treharne (corporate), Alex Meloy (commercial) and Tom McEvoy (employment).
Commenting on the deal, Tony Hill, Group CEO and Founder of Sideshow said:
“It was great to work with Jo and the team at Lewis Silkin on this exciting transaction. TRGT's remote working model and international trading presented some additional considerations to previous deals, so the advice and support we received from Jo, Fran, Matthew, Joe and the wider team at Lewis Silkin was invaluable. We are pleased and fortunate to have them as our trusted advisers.”
Commenting on the deal, Robin Elley, Senior Investment Associate at Waterland Private Equity said:
“The team at Lewis Silkin were instrumental in navigating this transaction. We look forward to working with them again.”
Commenting on the deal, Jo Evans said:
“It was a pleasure acting for Sideshow on their latest acquisition after we acted for the shareholders on the investment from Waterland. The Sideshow and Waterland teams have already built a cohesive working relationship and our team takes pride in seeing that success and assisting in the growth of the Sideshow Group.”