MBO at Carcraft

CAR dealer Carcraft has been bought by a management team led by chief executive Robin Bridge.

The Rochdale business, which has sales of £125m, has been acquired with backing from Apollo Ventures from Darren and Noel McKee.

The value of the transaction has not been disclosed and little information was available about Apollo.

In a statement Mr McKee said: “Noel and I have not been actively involved in the running of Carcraft for the last five years as it had become non-core to the family’s interests and this was constraining its ability to realise its full potential. The last five years also coincided with the demise of the funding industry’s ability to lend to consumers.

“We are delighted to pass the baton on to Robin Bridge and his team. Robin, who has been with the company for 16 years, has the knowledge and skills needed to progress further.

“He has been in the driving seat and treated the business as his own and we felt the time was right to allow him and his team to fulfil a management buyout. We are also pleased that consumer lending is rapidly improving and this bodes well for the Carcraft model.”

Mr Bridge said: “We have a very loyal and hardworking team and availability for consumer credit has almost doubled since its low point in the recession. The McKee brothers have left us with a fantastic legacy and one which my team and I are relishing the opportunity to build on in the coming years”.

Advisers included Hogan Lovells, Collyer Bristow, Pinsent Masons and PwC.

Peter Wood and Catherine Hemsworth led the Pinsent Masons team. Catherine commented: “We are delighted to work with Robin Bridge and the management team at such an exciting time for the business. The long established team are poised to take it into a new era.”

We Buy Any Car, which was set up by the McKees, was bought by Surrey-based British Car Auctions last year. However, the McKees are still directors according to records at Companies House.