23 Jun 2015 Rutland Acquires Gardman from Bank Syndicate
Rutland Partners is pleased to announce that on 23 June 2015 it completed the acquisition of Gardman Group (“Gardman”) in an all equity transaction.
Based in Peterborough, Gardman is the leading supplier of wild bird care products, tooling, lighting and gardening sundries to the garden sector. The business was founded in 1992 and supplies product, sourced mainly from overseas, to both independent garden centres and national chains.
The senior management team, led by Jonathan Halford (Executive Chairman), will remain with the business and is investing alongside Rutland. Gardman was restructured under bank ownership in 2012 and under new leadership has successfully repositioned its brands in the market and improved its product offering. The transaction delivers significant cash investment into the business and the strategy is to complete the turnaround through further improvements in the product range and an investment in operations to deliver higher service levels to customers.
Rutland focusses on special situations where, through change, restructuring and investment, it can help improve businesses. Gardman represents an exciting opportunity for Rutland to build on recently improved performance in the business and help management deliver a strategic plan aimed at releasing its further potential.
Gardman is the second investment from Rutland Fund III. The transaction was led on behalf of Rutland by Ben Slatter, Tristan Craddock, Matthew Hamilton-Allen and Jason Birt with support from Paul Cartwright.
Ben Slatter, Partner at Rutland, said:
“Rutland’s acquisition of Gardman gives the business stability and the resources to develop its operations to better address market needs. We are excited by the opportunity to back Jonathan Halford in his strategy to improved performance and develop the business further.”
Jonathan Halford, Executive Chairman of Gardman, said:
“This investment marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Gardman’s future and together with Rutland’s experience in delivering business transformation, provides us with the platform to deliver our ambitious future plans.”