FL Partners, an investment firm backed by former IBI corporate financiers Peter Crowley and Neill Hughes, has acquired Kayfoam Woolfson, the family-owned bedding firm based in Dublin and Kildare, writes Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent.
Kayfoam owns the bedding brands King Koil, Odearest and Kaymed, which are sold in department stores in Ireland, Britain and the US. FL Partners plans to create a "truly international bedding brand" with the business, which was acquired with an investment syndicate formed by Anglo Irish Bank Private Bankers.
The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but corporate financiers unconnected with the deal said the company could be worth €60 million or more assuming pro-forma profit growth since 2004, the last year for which accounts are publicly available for the business. WL Woolfson Holdings Ltd had sales that year of €32.3 million and pretax profits of €4.3 million.
The company was established almost 100 years ago by William L Woolfson, father of the former company chairman, Solly Woolfson, who died last January.
His wife Adele and son David will retain a stake in the firm after the deal. "As a family we are delighted to be a significant part of a deal which sees the firm my father built poised for significant international expansion in line with his ambitions," said David Woolfson.
Executive directors John Sexton and Michael Lynch provided management investment and will remain with the business. FL Partners recruited former IBI executive Conor Sheahan as chief executive. He most recently worked as chief executive of software firm Performix Technologies.
"Kayfoam Woolfson is an exceptional Irish success story and now has the potential to become a truly international bedding brand," said Mr Sheahan.
The deal marks the first big investment by FL Partners, which takes its name from festina lente, the Latin expression for "make haste slowly".
Mr Crowley is a former chief executive of IBI corporate finance and Mr Hughes is a former director of that business. He was also chief executive of investment fund Island Capital.
They plan further investments in "scalable growth businesses" in Ireland and abroad.
Mason Hayes & Curran acted for FL Partners. Matheson Ormsby Prentice and BDO Simpson Xavier acted for Kayfoam.
