Corporate finance deal announcement: Buzzacott advises Leesman on its sale to HqO

Overview of deal

We are delighted to have been involved in Leesman’s journey to an exit from the early stages, and ultimately to have supported the business in finding an excellent buyer in HqO.

Who are the firms involved

Leesman is a world leader in measuring and analysing the experiences of employees in their workplaces, having collated valuable data over 12 years.

HqO is a US based end-to-end tenant workplace experience platform and completed its most recent Series C fundraise in April 2021.

What was unique about this deal and the challenges addressed

Leesman is a truly one-of-a-kind business and has gathered the world’s largest dataset on workplace experience. It pivoted and innovated during the pandemic to continue to be of critical importance to its clients in informing decisions about return to the office and the future of work, which was interesting for us at Buzzacott to have insight into during the period we were advising them.

Culture and fit were extremely important for the shareholders of Leesman in finding a buyer, so we worked closely with them to understand these goals and ensure that the two parties were fully aligned on the future potential of the two businesses and synergies.

This deal marks yet another transaction for the Buzzacott team in selling UK-headquartered businesses to US buyers. There were some barriers to overcome with regards to different legislations and practices, as well as the time difference, but with our experience in cross-border transactions, we were able to work through these with a fully collaborative approach. We completed the transaction swiftly so that Leesman and HqO could focus on their combined offering as soon as possible.

To see further transactions that we have advised on, please see our transactions page.

"When you’ve spent 12 years building a business for this moment, you want to work with people who see more than just the transaction. There’s a huge weight of trust and responsibility shouldered by the advisors you gather around you, but I wanted a team that would feel more like an extension of our own business, rather than merely external advisors. Buzzacott achieved this very early on in the relationship and congratulations are due to them for pushing us as they did. Meera did an outstanding job at the helm, with Matt’s experience in oversight and Sri’s operational delivery providing a brilliant team structure. The deal we did was testament to their deep understanding of us, our business and their staying power."

-Tim Oldman, Founder and CEO of Leesman