Victory spends £62m on second e-cig firm
US-based Victory is buying a second North West electronic cigarette firm in a £62m deal.
It has acquired Sandbach-based Ten Motives in a cash and shares deal. It was set up in 2008 and is owned by Art Devlin and Tony Jones.
In April Victory spent £30m on Manchester-based e-cig firm VIP.
In a statement Victory described Ten Motives as one of the leading and fastest growing electronic cigarette companies in Europe.
It said: “Together with the rest of the companies in the Victory portfolio, the group has now consolidated a significant market leadership position in the UK and attained overall market share leadership in Europe.”
But the valuation appears high based on the information available. Ten Motives Ltd has not yet filed full accounts and has total liabilities of £4.6m.
Brent Willis, Victory’s chairman, said: “We feel extremely fortunate to be adding the entire Ten Motives team to the group. Art and Tony have developed the leading e-cig business in the UK against some very strong competition. I am confident that we can help them build their business and accomplish the vision they set out to achieve with the resources and further support of the Victory group.”
Art Devlin, director at Ten Motives, said: “The decision to join the Victory group was one that we considered very seriously amongst a number of options. Ultimately we made the decision to join because of their inclusionary partnership approach and their wealth of resources and capabilities to support our growth.
“We believe that scale and broader sales, marketing, and distribution capabilities will be needed to compete in the industry going forward, and we have witnessed Victory’s track record in doing just that. We are also proud to now be a central part of the world’s largest independent e-cig company, and are confident it will help us achieve our objectives.”
