LEDHut shines as US buyer Battieries+ swoops
LEDHut, the growing Middleton-based company which sells LED lighting products online which are then dispatched across Europe, has been sold to a US firm for up to $31m (£19m).
The company, which has around 60 staff at its base on Stakehill Industrial Estate and only moved its head office to the region in February this year, has been acquired by Batteries Plus Bulbs Inc, known as Batteries+.
Founded in 2011 by Preston born, Jersey-based entrepreneur Jonathan Ruff, LEDHut was previously based in Winchester. It operates a dedicated call centre consisting of multi-lingual customer service representatives and sells direct to the public and to wholesalers too.
It has replaced over 900,000 standard lights with energy-saving LED lights, resulting in total customer savings of over a £3.5m, leading to the reduction of more than 3,000 tonnes of Carbon emissions.
New owner Batteries+ is based in Hartland, Wisconsin and backed by Roark Capital from Atlanta. It has more than 620 retail stores in 46 US states.
Entrepreneur-focused corporate finance boutique Convex Capital advised the company on the sale. Convex said Batteries + was attracted by LEDHut’s track record of doubling sales year-on-year and also the ability to expand further into Europe.
Jonathan Ruff, founder and chairman of LEDHut.com said, ‘Convex understand e-Commerce, they understand business and they understood me.”
Manchester-based Convex Capital led, structured and completed the transaction. The deal team was led by managing partner Neil Worsley and included Andrew Clarke and David Kandola. The transaction was originated by Mike Driver and Warren Meggitt.
Mr Worsley told TheBusinessDesk.com: “The legislation around LED lights is a big driver for sales – LEDHut is on track to do around £30m next year – so it is really flying. Jonathan is a really impressive entrepreneur with a number of business interests and we are pleased to have achieved such a good result.”
The deal is Convex’s fifth in the e-commerce space in the last 12 months.
