Polypipe Goes with the Flow in £293m LBO
September 2005
Polypipe, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of plastic pipes and pipe systems, has been acquired in a £293m transaction backed by New York-based private equity house Castle Harlan Inc. The Doncaster-based group has been divested by major global engineering group IMI Plc as part of a strategic refocusing.
Livingstone originated the opportunity and sourced new CEO, David Hall, a former senior Polypipe executive. US Global M&A partner Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company (“BGL”) identified Castle Harlan as an ideal investor for Polypipe and the two investment banking firms facilitated the introduction of Castle Harlan into the IMI sale process.
Howard Morgan, Senior Managing Director of Castle Harlan comments; “Polypipe is a major player in the UK Building Products Industry, and we are confident that the business will flourish as an independent group."
“By working together, Livingstone and BGL introduced us to the deal, before it was formally on the market, along with a talented industry executive, who ultimately became Polypipe's Chief Executive at closing. LG and BGL provided hands on, literally day and night, support in the UK and the US and were value added members of our due diligence efforts on two continents."
“Livingstone and BGL had great, co-ordinated follow-up, from the initial kernel of an idea to the last push to a dawn closing ten months later. They are even contributing resources to Polypipe post closing, to help ensure and support key aspects of the "first hundred days" plan. They leveraged value added relationships to get us advice and insights and were transparent with information from the start. We never paused for a fee discussion. In fact, we ultimately welcomed them both as investors in the deal."
“Livingstone and BGL provided the highest level of support and value imaginable in such a complex cross-border deal. The two Global M&A firms worked together seamlessly, and we are extremely pleased with the result."
For further information contact:
Jeremy Furniss
T: +44 20 7484 4708
E: furniss@livingstonepartners.co.uk
Alex Sheffield
T: +44 20 7484 4734
E: sheffield@livingstonepartners.co.uk
