Plumbing giant acquires substantial stake in Coventry bathroom business
WARWICKSHIRE plumbing and heating giant, Wolseley, has acquired a substantial stake in a Coventry-based online bathroom retailer in an undisclosed deal.
BathEmpire.com was founded in 2009 by entrepreneur Chris Li, a former finalist in TheBusinessDesk.com’s West Midlands Business Masters awards.
Leamington-based Wolseley has not disclosed the full amount of its involvement but in a statement to the London Stock Exchange it said it had an option to acquire the outstanding stake in the business at a future date.
BathEmpire.com, which employs 150 people, generated revenue of £26m in the year ended December 31, 2014. Li is also the founder of the Luxury for Less brand.
The acquisition gives Wolseley a strong position in the UK B2C online bathroom market and a scalable platform to support future growth.
Commenting on the acquisition, Ian Meakins, CEO of Wolseley, said: “The UK B2C online bathroom market is growing rapidly and BathEmpire.com gives us an established brand with a scalable platform and the opportunity to build a significant presence over time.”
KPMG acted for BathEmpire.com during the deal.
Khush Purewal, Director, Corporate Finance at KPMG in Birmingham, said: “Luxury for Less, which many people will know as bathempire.com, is a fantastic business and Wolseley’s investment will allow the company to grow as part of the world’s largest trade distributor of plumbing and heating products.
“Our sector insights, having advised Victoria Plumb last year on its sale to TPG, helped us to secure a successful transaction for bathempire.com, positioning it as an exceptionally attractive target, with its strong sourcing relationships and scalable online sales platform.
“This is another local business that we have advised which has attracted the attention of a major corporate group, following hot on the heels of Poundland’s announcement that it intends to acquire 99p stores. This, yet again demonstrates that large corporates are well-positioned for growth and M&A will be a prominent feature on their Boardroom agendas for 2015.”
Wolseley is the world’s largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building materials in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group revenue for the year ended July 2014 was £12.8bn and trading profit was £761m. Wolseley has around 41,000 employees.
