A team of legal experts from Gowling WLG has advised specialist private investment firm Cairngorm Capital Partners (Cairngorm Capital) and its portfolio company, Grant & Stone Group (Grant & Stone), on the completion of three acquisitions and the arrangement of £124 million of debt facilities.
Grant & Stone's acquisitions of RGB Building Supplies, Buildit Gloster and Total Plumbing Supplies creates the largest independent builders' merchant group in southern England.
Rawle Gammon & Baker Holdings Limited, trading as RGB Building Supplies is a leading independent builders' merchant in the South West, with 22 branches serving customers across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.
Buildit Gloster Limited is a three branch builders' merchant providing a broad range of building materials to trade and retail customers across Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, while Total Plumbing Supplies Limited is a five branch plumbers' merchant headquartered in Devon, supplying trade and retail customers across Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon.
The new debt facilities - provided by Ares Management Limited and Santander - were used to refinance drawn debt and finance the three simultaneous acquisitions, all of which completed over a single weekend.
Ian Piggin, partner and head of private equity at Gowling WLG, led a cross firm team advising on the three acquisitions and the arrangement of debt facilities. He said: "Our cross-firm team worked simultaneously on the transactions to deliver the three acquisitions and debt financing to deadline and it was a pleasure to work with Grant & Stone and Cairngorm Capital once again. Cairngorm's portfolio of companies have performed well throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and we are pleased to have supported them on a string of acquisitions during this time."
Alex Bayliss, Managing Director at Cairngorm Capital, added: "We are delighted with the acquisition of these three excellent merchant businesses for Grant & Stone. The team at Gowling WLG know our company and portfolio extremely well and we appreciate their deep-rooted experience and expertise in the mid-market M&A and debt finance which was essential in completing the acquisitions and refinancing efficiently against a tight timetable."