Michael Neary
13 Dec 2017
Merlyn Industries, the shower enclosures company, has been acquired by UK bathroom accessories group Norcros plc for £60 million (€68.3 million). The disposing shareholders are the family of Merlyn’s founder, Michael Hoyne, and Dublin-based investment firm Broadlake, which acquired a stake in the business in 2015.
The business was established in 2000 by Michael Hoyne, and has grown to become the leading supplier of shower enclosures and trays in the UK and Ireland.
Michael Hoyne (founder of Merlyn Industries) commented:
“With the support of Norcros the business is well placed now to continue to grow and expand. This partnership will accelerate the company’s international growth and new product development ambitions.”
Pete Smyth (CEO and founder of Broadlake) commented:
“We backed a great management team and helped them develop and execute their growth strategy. For the Broadlake team it’s very rewarding to help another ambitious Irish SME to realise its potential. The Grant Thornton Corporate Finance team played a key role in the Merlyn transaction.
At Broadlake, we believe in sourcing best in class advice as a minimum requirement. In addition, our advisor selection involves selecting people who are 100% committed and like us think a little differently when bringing themselves to projects. Similar to choosing the people we partner with, we believe if you are going to spend a lot of time with people it helps if you like them. The Grant Thornton team scored highly on all of our criteria.
The successful outcome of the transaction was down to the teamwork of a lot of people and the Grant Thornton team played an integral role in it.”
Michael Neary (Grant Thornton Corporate Finance partner) commented:
"We are delighted to have assisted the shareholders of Merlyn Industries on the sale of the business to Norcros plc. This deal will provide an exciting opportunity for Merlyn to accelerate its growth and delivery of continued product innovation, and consolidate its position in the industry.
As part of the process, we provided vendor financial due diligence, tax due diligence, and top up due diligence, in addition to advising in respect of the locked box mechanism.
This deal also represents a significant exit for Broadlake, and is a great example of private equity and an entrepreneurial management team collaborating to add significant value for all stakeholders.”
