Gowling WLG advises Cairngorm Capital on Parker Building Supplies acquisition

3 minute read
20 March 2018

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Gowling WLG has advised client Cairngorm Capital Partners (Cairngorm Capital) on its acquisition of Parker Building Supplies (Parkers), an independent builders' merchant based in the South East of England.

The transaction, led by Corporate partner and Head of Private Equity Ian Piggin with support from a cross-firm team including Fabiano Iesini (Corporate), Anna Colley (Property) and Mark Owen (Banking), sees Cairngorm Capital acquiring the business from its founder and Managing Director, Tom Parker.

The deal is Cairngorm Capital’s 13th proprietary transaction since July 2016, with Cairngorm seeking to expand Parkers through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. The aim is to transform the scale of the business, to become a market leader in the builders’ merchant sector in southern England.

Founded in 1984, Parker Building Supplies serves trade and retail customers with its core offering of heavyside building materials plus an array of ancillary offerings including, plumbing, joinery and architectural ironmongery. Headquartered in Polegate, East Sussex, the company generated revenues of £67m in 2017 from 15 locations across Sussex and Kent.

Four new senior managers are joining the firm, led by Cairngorm Capital operating partner John Declerck, who will become Executive Chairman to support the established management team and to share his considerable operational expertise in the building materials sector. John has over 20 years’ global executive experience at leading building products distribution companies including Kingfisher and Home Depot.

The incumbent team will be further supported by Chris Maityard and Iain Bell, joining as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer respectively. Chris and Iain bring extensive building materials experience from companies such as Plumbase, Ridgeons and Wolseley. Stewart Harries also joins as Finance Director.

Cairngorm Capital’s investment was led by Alex Bayliss and Andrew Steel. Alex said: “Parkers is an excellent example of the sort of business in which we like to invest. It has a compelling product offering, delivered by a skilled and committed workforce of just under 300 people providing outstanding customer service. We are delighted to contribute the investment funding and industry expertise to support Parkers in its next stage of growth. The Gowling WLG team delivered the transaction in an extremely short timescale, with a focus on the commercially important aspects of the advisory."

Ian Piggin, Head of Private Equity at Gowling WLG, added: "Cairngorm Capital is extremely active in the mid-market and we're delighted to support the team on another acquisition, following advising Cairngorm on it's acquisition of MJ Wilson in February. We wish Cairngorm all the best with this new venture and we look forward to working with the firm again in the near future."

Cairngorm Capital was also advised on the transaction by PwC (financial and tax) and JLT (Insurance).


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