CBPE has provided £15m of funding to support the refinancing of Walton Garden Buildings (“Waltons”), a leading UK manufacturer and supplier of timber sheds, play houses and summer houses.

Waltons, based in Sutton-on-Trent, near Newark has been owned by the Walton family since 1878. CBPE’s investment facilitates the retirement from the business of Barry Walton, one of the two family owners.

The business, which has annual sales of around £25m, manufactures over 100,000 timber garden buildings a year, supplying the major DIY retailers and the independent garden centre trade. Waltons has seen demand for its products grow significantly in recent years, with the growing use of the garden as an incremental “room” in the house and the increased popularity of garden leisure interests.

The funding from CBPE, together with facilities from its incumbent bankers, HSBC, will enable Waltons to continue its growth and develop its product range.

CBPE will be working with Nigel Walton (the remaining family shareholder), Paul Hick (incoming executive chairman) and the management team led by David Wood.

Paul Hick, commenting on the transaction said “Waltons is a fabulous business with a tremendous heritage. It operates in a market with great growth opportunities and has the management to capitalise on that. We are all very fired up about the future!”

Simon Wildig, Partner at CBPE, who with Mark Perryman led the transaction, commented “Waltons has a real opportunity to continue its growth in a very favourable market. It has developed a business model that not only suits the key customers, such as its unique home delivery service, but generates incremental business streams. From our prospective this is a classic investment in a market leading business”.

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For more information contact:

Close Brothers Private Equity
Simon Wildig
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7065 1122
Or email: simon.wildig@cbpel.com