Norcros plc (‘Norcros’) is the market leading supplier of innovative branded showers, taps, bathroom accessories, tiles and adhesives. Merlyn Industries Limited (‘Merlyn’) is an Irish based designer and distributor of mid to high end and branded shower enclosures, bath screens and trays for a total enterprise value of £60 million.
Merlyn is at the forefront of shower enclosure design and innovation with established multiple sales channels, providing market diversification and significant growth opportunities. Merlyn generated reported revenues of £30.7m and operating profit of £6.4m in the year ended March 2017.
The transaction was a class 1 transaction for Norcros and they conducted a placing and open offer to raise equity to part fund the acquisition. The SPA was signed in early November 2017 with completion in mid-November when new equity shares were admitted to trading.
Merlyn is a strategically and financially compelling acquisition for Norcros and they have been tracking the business for a number of years. The acquisition of Merlyn with its premium brands and market leading position substantially broadens Norcros’s product offering. Merlyn’s innovative focus and high standards of customer service are in line with Norcros’s other business units, brand and positioning.
We provided full buy-side support to Norcros, including assistance in preparation of a business valuation and financial model, review of the locked box accounts, input into the SPA and other acquisition advice.
Our project management and co-ordination skills were critical to this transaction, managing the acquisition workstreams to a tight timetable.
Despite this being a complex transaction, which involved working alongside the equity fund raise and cross border working, we successfully navigated Norcros through this and secured an acquisition consistent with Norcros’ acquisition strategy.
“Grant Thornton provided invaluable corporate finance support in helping us to execute this exciting acquisition which we have been tracking for a number of years. The advice, expertise and project management skills of the team were critical, especially when managing to a tight timetable.”
James Eyre Director of Corporate Development and Strategy, Norcros plc
