BPE sells Deb for £325m in MBO
Who?
Derbyshire’s Deb Group, the Swarfega manufacturer.
Did what?
Has been sold to Charterhouse Capital Partners for £325m.
What does this mean?
Barclays Private Equity (BPE) backed the £135m management buyout of Deb in March 2004, taking a 55 per cent stake in the business. Today’s sale represents a money multiple of 5.7 times BPE’s original investment of £32m. The business was refinanced in 2006, which enabled BPE to refinance its original investment and fund the acquisition of a further significant minority shareholding, taking its stake to 75 per cent. Today’s management buyout is being led by the current chief executive, Bryan Anderson, and finance director, Russell Baker. Deb has operations in 16 countries and its products are sold across 100 countries. In the year to 31 December 2009, the company generated sales of over £122m. Rob Myers, director at Barclays Private Equity, said: “BPE is proud to have worked alongside a highly talented and ambitious team who have delivered exceptional financial results whilst positioning the business for its next stage of development.”
Who advised?
Advisers for Barclays Private Equity on the transaction included UBS (vendor corporate finance); PricewaterhouseCoopers (management corporate finance); Travers Smith (legal); KPMG (financial due diligence); LEK (commercial due diligence); RPS (environmental) and Marsh (insurance).
Insider comment:
Deb Group, founded in the 1940s and based in Denby, manufactures the market-leading industrial hand cleaner in the UK, Swarfega. Since BPE backed the 2004 MBO, Deb has grown year-on-year, generating a 116 per cent increase in revenues and a 190 per cent increase in EBIT over the past six years. Deb expanded into a number of international markets, including Germany and Japan, and invested £20m in a manufacturing and R&D facility in November 2009.
Rob Myers of BPE said: "The acquisition of Deb from its owner managers in 2004 provided BPE with an opportunity to invest in a highly robust platform for expansion. We have worked with an exceptional management team led by the CEO Bryan Anderson and supported by James Wilde as chairman, both of whom BPE recruited to drive the business forwards. This team has aggressively grown the business by investing in its intellectual property, global workforce and manufacturing facilities."
