Bibby swoops on Garic
TWO brothers who built a £12m turnover specialist plant hire firm, have sold out to one of the North West’s biggest private companies.
Lorne and Gary Entwistle are staying on with Bury-based Garic, which employs 95 people, after its sale to Liverpool giant Bibby Holdings.
Garic designs, manufactures and hires its own innovative range of equipment which helps construction contractors address a range of environmental, security and health and safety issues.
Products include environmentally protective fuel tanks, wheelwash equipment, interceptor drip trays, drum stores and a full range of welfare cabins for construction sites.
Founded 25 years ago, Garic has more than 800 customers, ranging from independent contractors to major multinationals such as Balfour Beatty, McAlpine, Laing O’Rourke and Carillion. The company’s turnover has doubled in the last four years.
Bibby Holdings, a specialist division of the historic Bibby Line Group, was set up to identify and acquire established, entrepreneurial and high growth potential businesses to further strengthen and diversify Bibby Line Group’s expanding portfolio, which spans support services across logistics, marine, offshore oil and gas, financial services and retail sectors.
Recent diversifying investments include the acquisition of Costcutter, Woodland Burial Parks and MHL Support.
Garic’s advisers included Paul Stringer, corporate finance partner at Cowgill Holloway, and Chris Ross at George Davies Solicitors.
Bibby Holdings was advised by Anthony Booth at Grant Thornton and Gareth McIntegart at law firm DWF.
Lorne Entwistle, managing director of Garic, said: “This deal is great news for the business, our customers and our employees. Garic has secured the backing of a major private company which shares our vision, passion and enthusiasm extending our range of innovative products.
“This will provide us with additional expertise and experience which we can leverage to support our customer relationships. Bibby is fully supportive of the current structure of Garic and we look forward to working closely with them over the coming years.”
Cy Green, chief executive of Bibby Holdings, said: “Garic shares a number of Bibby Line Group’s core values such as innovation, integrity and customer service excellence, which makes it a strong fit for our growing and diverse portfolio of companies.
“As a private investor we have the flexibility to structure a deal which aligns the interests of all stakeholders to long-term value creation and we will provide ongoing funding and strategic input to support management’s ambitions.
“Bibby Holdings has funds available for future investments and will be looking at exciting opportunities to invest in businesses with excellent growth prospects.”
