Staff swing into ownership of playground equipment group

A YORKSHIRE family playground equipment manufacturer has been bought by its employees in a £1.3m deal.

Sutcliffe Play, based in Upton, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, has been bought by its staff from company chairman Robin Sutcliffe, who has been planning the deal for some time.

The buyout has been achieved with the support of specialist funders Baxi Partnership, Co-operative & Community Finance, Barclays and The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Mr Sutcliffe said: “Employee ownership has been a dream for almost 50 years. From the day I joined the family business my ultimate aim was to one day hand the reins of our business to its employees.

“In my experience employee ownership motivates and provides a level of commitment that is unusual in privately owned companies.

“It will give Sutcliffe Play an intellectual advantage over our competitors and a unique strength within the marketplace as employee owned businesses are almost always at the top end of their market and innovation. It gives us the opportunity to take risks, something which we already fully advocate at Sutcliffe Play.”

Viv Jebson, managing director of Sutcliffe Play, added: “At a time when the UK manufacturing industry has suffered we have continually performed above target and we are looking forward to continued growth in the knowledge that the future of the company is in our own hands.

“The government has taken the lead in funding more places for children to play safely through its wide ranging Children’s Plan and we in turn have accelerated our growth.”

Under the guidance of Baxendale, a division of Baxi Partnership specialising in the delivery of consultancy, advice and hands-on support for employee owned companies, an Employee Benefit Trust has been established that will hold the majority of the shares in trust for all employees. 

Baxendale is also coaching the staff taking up the employee ownership opportunity and helping them prepare for their new role as owners.

Andrew Harrison, of Baxendale, said: “The employee buyout team was a joy to work with and I’m convinced that together we’ve designed the right foundations that will ensure that Sutcliffe Play continues to be a very successful manufacturing operation, and a very successful employee owned company.”

Ian Taylor, of Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “We are pleased to have helped finance this employee buyout. When I visited Sutcliffe Play I was impressed with everything I saw.”

Jon Lowe, Barclays Corporate relationship director and his team worked with Sutcliffe Play to provide finance for the deal.

He said: “Sutcliffe Play is a fantastic example of a business that is thriving and growing in difficult economic conditions and it’s been a real pleasure to work with the Sutcliffe Play team to help them achieve their buyout plans.”

Malcolm Harding, audit director at KPMG in Leeds, advised Sutcliffe Play on financial and tax structuring, while Andrew Johnson of KPMG’s employee tax practice also worked on the deal.

Specialist law firm Wrigleys also advised.