CBPE Capital (CBPE) has completed the sale of its shareholding in Allied Glass (Allied) to a vehicle funded by Sun Capital and Allied management. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.Allied is the UK’s leading manufacturer of premium glass containers and is headquartered in Yorkshire. The business specialises in short, flexible production runs of high-quality glass packaging. Allied’s focus is on serving the premium spirits markets. It’s ability to partner with its customers to undertake innovative prototyping work to support successful product redesigns and new product launches has seen Allied benefit from the high growth craft gin segment. Over the last three years, the business has doubled its customer base to over 260 customers and delivered sales growth of 13 per cent pa.
CBPE invested in Allied in 2013 alongside the management team, and the two parties have worked closely together to secure Allied’s position as a global leader in the production of high design glass packaging.
Under CBPE’s ownership there has been significant investment in new state-of-the-art decoration facilities and coloured glass production capabilities, both satisfy growing trends within the premium spirits market with producers of craft gin particularly likely to capitalise on Allied’s ability to deliver packaging that will differentiate their products at points of sale. In addition, there has been continued focus on quality and production efficiency, which has underpinned Allied success in increasing its share of the premium market.
The investment by Sun Capital will enable Allied to capitalise on an opportunity to globalise Allied’s approach and deliver its industry leading expertise to a wider customer base.
Alan Henderson, CEO, Allied, says: “CBPE have been an extremely loyal investor to the Allied team and have encouraged and supported us to invest in the operational infrastructure as well as investing in people within the business. Allied has achieved excellent sales growth over the last few years and we look forward to continuing this success with our new partners at Sun Capital. We are all excited about the next phase of Allied’s growth and development.”
Mathew Hutchinson and Ben Lewis from CBPE, says: “It has been great to work with Alan and the rest of the team. The development of the business over the last few years and its alignment with the craft spirits market is testament to managements strategic mindset and hard work. There is a compelling opportunity for Allied to expand internationally and take advantage of the growing premium craft markets in regions including North America.”
CBPE’s investment in Allied was led by Mathew Hutchinson with support from Ben Lewis and Jolyon Latimer. Baird acted as M&A advisor and Addleshaws acted as legal advisor to shareholders. PwC completed vendor Commercial and Financial Diligence.