International law firm Eversheds has advised private equity house Endless and the Board of Crown Paints on the sale of Crown Paints to Danish company Hempel.
Endless acquired Crown Paints in September 2008 from Akzo Nobel. Endless and the management team at Crown Paints then turned around a loss-making business achieving profits of GBP20m on sales of GBP180m in 2010.
Hempel, which was established in Denmark nearly a century ago, supplies products to the decorative, protective, marine, container and yacht markets in more than 80 countries.

The Eversheds team was led by partners Jonathan Robinson and Daniel Hall assisted by Senior Associate Alasdair Outhwaite.
This sale follows swiftly on from Eversheds supporting Endless on a non-core asset deal at the start of the year with Niagara Lasalle (UK). The firm also advised Endless on its acquisition of retailer TJ Hughes, its 13th investment, and the completion of its first London deal, the acquisition of Liberata Limited. 

Jonathan Robinson says: “Through the support and dedication of Endless and the Crown Paints management team, the Crown Paints business has been turned around during a period of financial uncertainty and now sits in a solid position in the market. This sale represents yet another success for Endless and we look forward to advising them on future deals.”
Warwick Ley (pictured), partner at Endless LLP, adds: “We are tremendously proud to have partnered with Crown Paints over the last three years. It has been a significant success for us in many ways. The business has outperformed just about every key metric, which is an outstanding achievement given recent economic turmoil. As our trusted adviser, Eversheds offered not just legal advice but strong commercial advice too.”
