THE CLONDALKIN GROUP ACQUIRES HARLANDS OF HULL
10 June 2005
The Clondalkin Group acquires Harlands of Hull
First exit for the Yorkshire & Humber Equity Fund managed by YFM and Bridges Community Ventures
YFM Group (YFM) and Bridges Community Ventures (BCV) today announced the sale of Harlands of Hull to a trade buyer, the Clondalkin Group for £8.5m. This is the first exit for both BCV and YFM’s Regional Venture Capital Fund.
The Yorkshire and Humber Equity Fund, managed by YFM, is one of the 9 government backed regional venture capital funds covering the whole of England. Bridges Community Ventures is the UK’s first community development venture capital company
The original deal was led by YFM in September 2003. YFM and BCV jointly backed the £4 million management buy-out of Harlands of Hull, a specialist self-adhesive label printer. Each invested £750,000 to become minority shareholders in the company. The sale of Harlands to the Clondalkin Group represents a money multiple of 3.5 x for the institutional investors. It is a strategic purchase for Clondalkin who will be gaining access to a value-added specialist label printer which will enhance their overall product offering.
Harlands is based in one of the 2% most deprived wards of England on the Index of Multiple Deprivation. The initial investment protected 50 jobs which had been under threat during the turnaround of the company and in the past 18 months the company has further protected those jobs as well as creating new jobs.
Michele Giddens, BCV Director said,
“We are delighted to have achieved an excellent first exit for the BCV Fund and congratulate the Harlands management team on completing such a successful trade sale to the Clondalkin Group. The mission of BCV is to invest in businesses like Harlands which have strong commercial potential and which can deliver attractive financial returns whilst bringing social and economic benefits to under-invested areas such as Hull. We hope that this success will encourage investors to participate in this kind of investment in the future.”
Richard Taylor, YFM Investment Manager said,
“YFM are very pleased to announce its first exit for the Yorkshire and Humber Equity Fund which has delivered an excellent return. The realisation of our investment came earlier than expected as a result of an approach by Clondalkin which was looking to pursue sales opportunities in eastern Europe via a joint venture with a quality labels printer which subsequently developed into an outright acquisition of Harlands. The management team has done a fantastic job at Harlands and we have no doubt that this will continue as part of the Clondalkin Group.”
Stephen Garman, a member of the BCV Entrepreneurs Club, represented BCV on Harlands’ Board. The Bridges Entrepreneurs Club is a group of successful entrepreneurs who have invested in the BCV Funds and who work with investee companies to help them succeed.