Fieldfisher Ireland's Corporate Team advised Marlowe plc on their acquisition of EssentialSkillz

Galway-based EssentialSkillz, which provides e-learning and cloud-based compliance software, has been acquired by Marlowe, a London-listed security systems services company, for a reported €29.6m. Fieldfisher Ireland's Corporate and Commercial team were, along with Fieldfisher Manchester's Corporate Team, delighted to advise Marlowe on the deal. This is Marlowe's 20^th acquisition of 2021, all of which Fieldfisher have acted on.

EssentialSkillz was founded in 2001 by husband and wife, Tony & Michelle Dervan.  The business also has offices in Chester, England, and Delaware in the US. It is a leading supplier of compliance-based e-learning, delivering courses on both Health & Safety and Risk & Governance..

Marlowe plc is a leader in business-critical services and software. The business deliver services and SaaS focused on assuring safety and regulatory compliance. The company employs 2,300 people across the UK, providing services and software application to roughly 40,000 clients. Marlowe plc has revenues in the region of £325m.

In a statement announcing the acquisition EssentialSkillz stated "This is an exciting move forward for EssentialSkillz and brings considerable benefits to our customers through the scale and breadth of services offered by the wider group. We look forward to providing the same excellent service {to our customers] as part of the Marlowe Group."

Alex Dacre, Chief Executive of Marlowe plc, said: “This acquisition of EssentialSkillz is the next step in our strategy to become the compliance software market leader. EssentialSkillz is a leading compliance SaaS and eLearning business of scale and its merger with our new WorkNest platform further strengthens our one-stop-shop regulatory compliance offering for our clients."

Fieldfisher's Head of Corporate and Commercial Feilim O'Caoimh commented: "We are delighted to have worked alongside Marlowe on this transaction, which represents another important step in their growth strategy through M&A."

Feilim led the Fieldfisher Dublin team working on the transaction which included Conor Folan and Teodora Puiu. 

The Fieldfisher Manchester team working on the transaction was led by David Bowcock and Adam Jones.

David Bowcock, Corporate Partner in Fieldfisher's Manchester office holds the Marlowe relationship and referred the work to the Dublin team.