LGV acquires £85 million office supplier

Legal & General Ventures (LGV), the UK mid-market private equity firm, has acquired wholesale office supplies company Kaye Office Supplies from 3i and the company's founders, the Kaye family, in an MBO.
 
The transaction valued the business, which trades under the name Kingfield Heath, at £85 million (€123 million; $165 million), including £17 million of assumed debt, LGV said in a press release.
 
Kaye provides office equipment wholesale to businesses in the UK and Ireland including other office supplies dealers, and has a turnover of around £218 million. The company operates nine warehouses and is headquartered in Sheffield.

Following the transaction, LGV will hold around 75 percent of the firm, and the management team, led by CEO Alan Barclay, the remainder. The Royal Bank of Scotland arranged around £50 million in debt finance for the deal.

LGV has installed Richard Martin as a new chairman. It is hoping to grow the business organically, LGV CEO Adrian Johnson said in an interview.

3i invested a total of £5.7 million in the company since it first backed it in 1993. and received £22 million for their stake, according to the Yorkshire Post.
 
SG Corporate & Investment Banking acted as financial adviser to Kaye's shareholders, and law firm O’Melveny & Myers advised management. LGV was advised by Ernst & Young, CMS Cameron McKenna and Burlington Consultants.
 
LGV is a London-based mid-market private equity firm with an investment focus on MBOs and MBIs of businesses with an enterprise value of more than £60 million. Its existing investments in the service sector include analytical and diagnostic forensic services company LGC; the Hayley Conference Centres chain of eight facilities; and Craegmoor Healthcare, which provides residential care for the disabled. Other sectors of interest include leisure and consumer products.