Gowling WLG advises Cairngorm Capital on Grant & Stone acquisition

3 minute read
21 November 2019

A team from Gowling WLG has advised private equity firm Cairngorm Capital on its acquisition of Grant & Stone Limited.

Established in 1987, Grant & Stone is a leading independent builders' merchant based in the Thames Valley region and achieved revenues of £100 million in 2019. Cairngorm Capital is acquiring the business and its ecommerce subsidiary, Trading Depot UK Limited, from its founding shareholders and supporting the current management team, led by chief executive, Nick House.

Grant & Stone will operate as a separate, independent business from Cairngorm Capital's other building supplies brands, and is the latter's 23rd proprietary transaction since July 2016. A key objective of the new owners is to expand Grant & Stone through a combination of new branch openings and acquisitions. Indeed, the overall ambition is to increase the scale of the business to become a market leader in the builders' merchant sector in the region.

A team from Gowling WLG, led by Corporate M&A / private equity partner Ian Piggin, were able to successfully apply their expertise from a range of perspectives that covered the key legal aspects of the deal.

Ian said: "It has been a pleasure to continue to support Cairngorm Capital, this time on its acquisition of Grant & Stone Limited. Cairngorm continues to be extremely active in the mid-market and has an extremely strong footing in the building supplies industry and we wish them all the best with this latest venture."

Other members of the team assisting included director Neil Hendron (corporate), principal associates Dhruv Chhatralia (corporate), Alasdair Mackenzie (banking and finance), senior associate Sian Dewing (corporate) and associate Fabiano Iesini (corporate).

Cairngorm Capital's investment was led by managing partner Andrew Steel and investment director Stuart Whiteford. Andrew said: "Grant & Stone is an excellent example of the sort of business in which we like to invest. Its employees, technical know-how and customer service are all exceptional. We are delighted to contribute the investment funding and industry expertise to support Nick and his leadership team in the next stage of Grant & Stone's growth.

"The team at Gowling WLG has deep-rooted experience in the mid-market and supported us to complete the transaction in a timely and efficient manner."

Cairngorm Capital was also advised on the transaction by PwC (financial and tax) and Collins M&A Consultants (Corporate Finance).


NOT LEGAL ADVICE. Information made available on this website in any form is for information purposes only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. You should not rely on, or take or fail to take any action based upon this information. Never disregard professional legal advice or delay in seeking legal advice because of something you have read on this website. Gowling WLG professionals will be pleased to discuss resolutions to specific legal concerns you may have.