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Barclays and Burdale arrange £447m financing transaction for Palmer and Harvey (Holdings) Plc
By abby | April 24, 2008
Barclays Commercial Bank today announced that it is providing majority finance to support a Management Buy Out (MBO) for Palmer and Harvey (Holdings) Plc, the UK’s leading delivered wholesaler and distributor for both the independent and multiple retail trade. The MBO is headed by Chief Executive Chris Etherington and will offer management and employees 50 per cent of shares in the new holding company.
This is the third MBO that Barclays has supported for the Palmer and Harvey Group, a customer of the Bank for more than 80 years. Barclays Commercial Bank and Burdale are jointly arranging a funding package comprising a £280m Receivables Finance Facility and a £50m Senior Debt facility. Barclays is also providing a loan note guarantee facility of approximately £117m as part of the transaction funding. Burdale Financial Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Ireland and one of the UK’s leading comprehensive asset based lending companies.
With a turnover of £4 billion, the Palmer and Harvey Group is the UK’s fourth largest privately owned company and supplies food, confectionery and tobacco to over 61,000 customers.
This deal reflects the relatively robust nature of the wholesale food and grocery sector. Despite the tough high street retail environment, a less volatile nature should position the wholesale food and grocery sector to fare better than other retail sectors in the current economic uncertainty. According to ONS data, last year the wholesaling sector grew by 3.4 per cent.
Chris Etherington, Chief Executive, Palmer and Harvey (Holdings) Plc, said: “This is a very exciting time for the company as we put in place the financial foundations for the future growth of the business. Not only will this restructuring create significant share ownership opportunities within the group, we have also secured the best management team to build on our strong heritage by delivering further growth and expansion.”
Paul Ambrose, Director, Barclays Commercial Bank Leveraged Finance, said: “Barclays is delighted to lead this transaction particularly given our long relationship with the Palmer and Harvey Group. This transaction is indicative of the relative stability of the wholesale food sector in comparison to other retail and wholesale sectors. Palmer and Harvey’s recent acquisitions of south west based wholesaler T&A Symonds and Leeds based Young’s further strengthened its position as the UK’s biggest wholesaler and I believe that its management team is well positioned to further implement the group’s growth strategy.”
Dennis Levine, Chief Executive of Burdale, added: “This is excellent repeat business for Burdale, reinforcing a relationship built with the company over seven years and we are delighted to support the management team as the company enters this new phase.”
Paul Ambrose, Director, Barclays Commercial Bank Leveraged Finance, said: “Barclays is delighted to lead this transaction particularly given our long relationship with the Palmer and Harvey Group. This transaction is indicative of the relative stability of the wholesale food sector in comparison to other retail and wholesale sectors. Palmer and Harvey’s recent acquisitions of south west based wholesaler T&A Symonds and Leeds based Young’s further strengthened its position as the UK’s biggest wholesaler and I believe that its management team is well positioned to further implement the group’s growth strategy.”
Dennis Levine, Chief Executive of Burdale, added: “This is excellent repeat business for Burdale, reinforcing a relationship built with the company over seven years and we are delighted to support the management team as the company enters this new phase.”
Further information:
Barclays Press Office
Alan White
Tel: 020 7116 6232
Email: alan.white@barclays.com
Ogilvy Public Relations
Jenny Tod
Tel: 020 7309 1217
E-mail: jenny.tod@uk.ogilvypr.com
Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking
Carol Gregory
Tel: +353 1 604 409
Email: carol.gregory@boimail.com
Powerscourt
Marie Cairney / Elizabeth Rous
Tel: 020 7250 1446
Email: marie.cairney@powerscourtmedia.com
elizabeth.rous@powerscourtmedia.com
Notes to Editors:
About Barclays Commercial Bank
Barclays Commercial Bank provides relationship banking to 81,000 larger and medium business customers in the UK (£1m to £1bn turnover). Customers are served by a network of relationship and industry sector specialist managers who provide local access to an extensive range of products and services, as well as offering business information and support.
Customers are also offered access to the products and expertise of other businesses in the Group, particularly Barclays Capital and Barclaycard. Barclays Asset & Sales Finance – a specialist business within Barclays Commercial Bank - provides customers with asset based lending and leasing solutions.
For further information about Barclays, please visit our website http://www.barclays.co.uk/commercial
About Burdale Financial Limited
Burdale Financial Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Ireland, is a leader in Comprehensive Asset-Based Lending (”CABL”) operating in the UK, Europe and the US. CABL is one of the most advanced forms of asset-backed commercial finance and a powerful way of leveraging a company’s underlying assets. Burdale has a strong track record of providing innovative and flexible tailored funding structures to businesses implementing turnaround and restructuring plans. Burdale also provides transactional funding to support MBO/MBIs, corporate acquisitions, full or partial VC exits and cash-outs. These businesses may be capital-intensive, asset-backed, rapidly expanding, highly leveraged or underperforming. 44 professionals are employed at offices located in London, Manchester and Birmingham in the UK and Stamford, Connecticut in the US.
For further information about Burdale, please visit their website http://www.burdale.co.uk
About Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland Group is the leading provider of financial services products in the Republic of Ireland and has a significant and growing presence in the UK market. It employs c. 16,000 staff, has assets of €200 billion and generated pre-tax profits of €1.091 billion in the half year ended 30 September 2007.
For further information about Bank of Ireland, please visit their website http://www.bankofireland.ie
About Barclays
Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services, with an extensive international presence in Europe, the USA, Africa and Asia.
With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs 135,000 people.
Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for over 38 million customers and clients worldwide.
For further information about Barclays, please visit our website http://www.barclays.com.
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