Private equity firm NorthEdge Capital has invested in Stoke-based composite door manufacturer Solidor.
Founded in 2004 and led by Gareth Mobley, Solidor is a leading manufacturer of hardwood core composite doors. With over 130 employees, the business has seen sales grow more than 10-fold in the last five years.
NorthEdge Capital, which has offices in Manchester and Leeds, is focused on investing in businesses in the North of England and the investment will allow Solidor to accelerate its growth plans by expanding its senior management team. The business will also continue to invest in operations, capacity and IT, whilst also looking at developing a buy-and-build strategy.
Solider was advised on the deal by Altium, which ran a tailored marketing process that was designed to find the right partner to assist Mobley in achieving his objectives for the business. The Altium deal team included assistant director Dominic Orsini and associate Mark Smith.
Ray Stenton, Partner and Head of New Business at NorthEdge, Director Jon Pickering and Investment Executive George Potts, led the deal. Stenton and Pickering will join the Board as Non-Executive Directors, with Potts joining as an Observer.
Phil Adams, chief executive of Altium, says: “Altium has a long and successful history of helping fast growing businesses led by entrepreneurs to achieve their goals and the Solidor deal is the latest example of this.
“Gareth and his team have been responsible for successfully developing an innovative sales model that has captured the attention of both consumers and industry players, along with delivering very impressive recent growth.
“We worked with Gareth to understand his objectives for Solidor and ultimately identified the ideal partner in NorthEdge to work with Gareth and grow the business further.”
Stenton says: “Solidor has established a strong market position in a growing niche of the home improvement market. Under Gareth’s leadership, sales have grown more than 10-fold in the last five years.
“We join the company at a time when further executive support and financial backing will allow Gareth to build a group of niche manufacturing businesses. We are excited to begin working alongside the whole management team to deliver on the clear growth potential at Solidor”.
