We have advised Harbour Collective, a collective of independent marketing agencies, on raising debt finance to support the acquisitions of Curious Productions (Curious), a London-based creative services business, and Flourish, a Bristol-based specialist CRM agency. In partnership with Curious and Flourish, Harbour Collective launches a new company, Harbour Group, to accelerate growth and drive value for clients.
Launched in May 2019, Harbour Collective is an agency model bringing together a collective of specialist, independent marketing agencies including a brand consultancy agency. The company offers clients access to a range of fully specialist capabilities, coordinated, and integrated on an as-needed basis. For its member agencies, Harbour Collective offers new routes to market and referrals between members of the collective.
Harbour Group acquired Curious and Flourish, both of which are members of the Harbour Collective, as well as the management structure and assets of Harbour Collective. This move represents the first step in the creation of a new marketing services agency group, which will see further acquisitions from within and outside the collective.
The shareholders and the management of Curious and Flourish will take significant equity in Harbour Group, in a move which will create shared ownership of the group and positions on both the new company’s board and its management committee.
Paul Hammersley, founder of Harbour Collective, will become the CEO of Harbour Group and will be joined by Hugo Varney as the group’s CFO, who has played a key role in developing the plan for Harbour Group alongside the owners and managers of Harbour, Curious, and Flourish.
Harbour Collective will continue in its current form, with the agencies now part of Harbour Group working in partnership with agencies in the wider collective. All agencies will also continue to work with third-party agencies as appropriate.
Our team provided Harbour Collective with debt advisory services, raising debt finance from Beach Point Capital to fund the acquisitions of Curious and Flourish.
