21 Jan 2004 Disposal of Hunter Boots by Interfloor
Rutland Fund Management Limited (“Rutland”), the private equity group, announces that one of its investments, Interfloor Group Limited, Europe’s leading manufacturer of underlays for carpets and laminated flooring, has today disposed of its Hunter Boots business to an MBI team.
Hunter Boots began operations in the 19th century and is today the manufacturer of the internationally recognised Hunter brand of wellington boots as well as other footwear products ranging from Argyll agricultural boots to safety boots for commercial and industrial uses.
The MBI team intend to capitalise on the strong recognition which the Hunter brand commands by adding to its product range whilst continuing to develop the business from its manufacturing base in Dumfries, Scotland.
Rutland formed Interfloor in May 2002 from the simultaneous acquisitions of Duralay from Cinven and Gates Consumer and Industrial from Tomkins plc for a combined purchase price of £60 million. Since that date Interfloor has focused on merging and developing the flooring activities within the group.
Commenting on the disposal, Larry Dunn, CEO of Interfloor, said:
“We’re a flooring business with significant opportunities ahead of us and with Rutland’s active support want to focus our management time on our core operations. Hunter is a first class business with great people and great products and we’re looking forward to seeing them flourish under independent ownership.”
Rutland typically invests in companies with mature products or services that are facing commercial or strategic challenges and/or are in need of restructuring. The value of such companies will typically range from £20 million to £150 million and investee companies are primarily UK based. Rutland considers all later stage transaction types across most major business sectors.
Rutland has invested a total of £89 million out of the £210 million of capital committed to its first fund which closed in March 2001.
Interfloor Project Story