Insider Media Limited

Midlands Business Insider editor Andy Coyne has selected wholesale retailer AF Blakemore’s acquisition of rival Capper & Co.

“It’s great to see a Midlands corporate flexing its muscles and making an astute purchase of a competitor in another region,” he said.

“The banks came up with the debt financing and the deal creates a £1bn plus turnover business. It’s more power to the elbow of Midlands PLC.”

Willenhall-based Blakemore bought South Wales rival Capper in a deal believed to be worth more than £40m.

Accountancy firm Grant Thornton advised AF Blakemore on the deal and debt financing came from Barclays Corporate and Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets.

AF Blakemore operates nine depots across the UK. Prior to the Capper & Co buyout, the company operated more than 200 Spar shops. Capper is one of Wales’ largest private companies by turnover, with sales of £289m in the year to April 2010, up from £283m the year before.

The acquisition will take the turnover of the combined organisation to £1.1bn. AF Blakemore’s 5,572 employees and the 2,418 employed by Capper & Co will forge a combined workforce of 7,990 people and create the largest Spar wholesaler in the UK, serving 1,096 Spar stores.

Capper & Co will trade as a separate division of AF Blakemore & Son, with Capper chairman Bill Capper and managing director Robert Upton joining the main Blakemore board of directors.

AF Blakemore’s group managing director Peter Blakemore said: “This is a great opportunity to bring two long established, family-owned businesses together and allow us to move forward in the growing UK convenience store sector.”