META Corporate Finance Ltd

HGH

HGH Plumbing - Sale

Meta Corporate Finance is pleased to announce the sale of HGH Plumbing Supplies Limited (“HGH”) to Wolseley UK Limited. Meta acted for the shareholders, Peter Lake and Gwyn Hadridge, in the sale of the entire issued share capital for an undisclosed amount.

Wolseley UK Limited is a subsidiary of Wolseley Plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Wolseley is a distributor of construction materials and services to professional contractors, industry and government in Europe and North America.

HGH has grown to a turnover of some £6m and distributes plastic plumbing to a wide range of building and plumbing clients across the South East from its headquarters in Tunbridge Wells. HGH specialises in serving a wide geographical area with a very specific range of plastic plumbing focusing on soil, waste, rainwater and hot and cold services.

Wolseley’s activities in this sector are conducted through Drain Center, which, prior to the acquisition of HGH, operated from 111 branches in the UK. Drain Center is the UK’s leading specialist distributor of above and below ground drainage solutions for the construction sector. Drain Center and HGH share a number of the key suppliers of product in this market such as Marley, Hunter, Geberit Terrain and Osma.

Paul Gordon, Brand Director of Drain Center, said of the acquisition “HGH was well-known to us before we were invited to look at the Company. It has been a strong competitor of Drain Center in the South-East, due to its absolute focus on customer service. The HGH approach to business is evident amongst all the staff and we are delighted to welcome them into both Drain Center and Wolseley UK.”

Peter Lake, shareholder of HGH said “We obviously know Wolseley well in the marketplace and are very pleased to become part of their team. Gwyn Hadridge and I concluded that we wished to retire at the same time and spoke with Peter Counsell at Meta Corporate Finance to handle the sale on our behalf. Peter worked closely with Mark Howard of Creaseys and Nick Austen of Vertex Law to provide a seamless advisory service to Gwyn and I. The fit with Wolseley is extremely good and we feel sure that HGH will flourish under its ownership.”

Peter Counsell, Director of Meta Corporate Finance, added “HGH is exactly the sort of business that we at Meta enjoy working with. Peter and Gwyn have built a highly successful specialist distributor that we have successfully sold to the UK’s market leader in its field. It is a particular pleasure for us as we have had a longstanding involvement with HGH, assisting in a shareholder restructuring some five years ago as well. We are delighted with the outcome.”

 

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