Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

This trickle will turn into a flood within the next 12 months as the property redevelopment bandwagon slips onto the fast track.

The Olympics factor is very much the icing on the cake for the Essex business community, however. Currently, it is the growth of London Stansted Airport that is underpinning growth along the M11 and A12 corridors.

The economic boom Essex is set to experience is also being boosted by the Thames Gateway and Shellhaven Container Port projects.

Experienced business watchers identifying prime B2B centres will always advise you to follow the professional firms if you want to see a vibrant area – primarily the law firms, the banks and the accountancy practices. Where they thrive so business thrives.

Essex is a prime example of that commercial truism. Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets put down a marker when it decided to upscale is Essex operations two years ago, moving from Basildon to Chelmsford, since when law firms and accountants have followed its example.

Lloyds TSB is now looking to expand by establishing a second Essex operation on the back of record business in the county itself and along the corridor into east London.

Fast growing quoted and private companies in Essex have good reason to thank Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets for its financial and moral support through good times and not so good.e2v technologies, an Essex-based world leader in imaging sensors for the space sector, was backed by Lloyds TSB in a milestone acquisition that fast-tracked its global growth strategy.

The Chelmsford company paid £76 million bid to expand the company and enter the professional imaging market through the acquisition of French electronic components specialist, Atmel Grenoble.

The all-cash deal increased e2v’s headcount by more than a third to over 1,600 staff worldwide and boosted revenue almost two-thirds to around £180m.

e2v underpinned the purchase with a new £150m banking facility and a £13.2m shares placing, in which Lloyds TSB Corporate in Cambridge was joint lead bank.

e2v is one of the region’s outstanding technology companies, repeatedly landing contracts to provide systems for cutting edge science, particularly in the space sector.

The European Space Agency used it on its groundbreaking comet-chasing Rosetta mission and will use its technology to capture the images that will create the most accurate 3D map of the Milky Way galaxy to date.

Neil Mackie, senior relationship director with Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets – joint lead arranger and appointed agent for the acquisition – says the transaction has proved a landmark deal in e2v’s global growth strategy.

He said: “We helped e2v through the IPO process two years ago and this was a hugely significant deal for the company relatively soon after the float. It increased its turnover and fast-tracked where it wants to be on the international stage. We are enormously proud to be part of what is a real triumph for the company.”

The Lloyds TSB team in Essex has been strengthened to match the demand its relationship directors and managers have opened up for the bank’s services.

It is winning record business for a UK bank from Asian-owned companies in the Essex-London corridor and is also helping companies in the field of logistics and retail furnishing – plus a host of other sectors – achieve UK and international growth.

• Growing Essex businesses are welcome to call the Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets team in Chelmsford and discover how the bank will stand shoulder to shoulder with their growth aspirations.

Contact Jon Cobley on 07736 359352 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it