Mayflower In Bloom
The deal represents the first change of ownership for Mayflower since its formation in 1974 and is seen as a natural succession for a business which now employs 82 people and generates annual sales of more than £8 million from a 38,000 sq ft facility in Sheffield. Mayflower provides a full range of design, manufacturing, installation and commissioning services to a “blue chip” customer base which includes such names as Corus, Outokumpu, Caterpillar and Siemens.
A five-strong management team, led by managing director Kevan Bingham and operations director Glyn Hobson, is now looking forward to continuing the trend of strong growth achieved in recent years. Kevan Bingham commented: “In some ways this is the start of a new era, but in reality it is business as usual. This MBO has been some time in the planning and the management team remains unchanged. We have a highly skilled and loyal workforce, a high quality customer base and we are looking to build on what has been achieved over recent years.”
Lead advisors on the MBO were David Forrest and Lisa Leighton of Ingram Forrest Corporate Finance. David Forrest said: “It was a pleasure to see this transaction through to a successful completion. In many ways it is a textbook example of what can be achieved by proper succession planning. We have worked with the business over an extended period – Mayflower is an excellent business and has developed an impressive management team to take it forward. I am sure the business will continue to go from strength to strength.”
Debt funding for the MBO was provided by Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank’s South Yorkshire Business Centre. Paul Griffiths, Senior Relationship Manager commented: “Mayflower has a strong management team and we are delighted to be able to play our part in securing the continued success of the business for many years to come.”
Legal advisors to the management team were Neil Thompson and Paul King of Halliwells, with Ben Hendry of Nabarro and James Bullock of Irwin Mitchell providing legal advice to the vendors and Alliance & Leicester respectively.