The GT4 Group makes strategic acquisition with Scottish Loan Fund funding
The Scottish Loan Fund (“SLF”), managed by Maven Capital Partners (Maven), has completed a £5 million investment in The GT4 Group Ltd (“GT4”) the parent company of Blantyre based Gavin Watson Ltd. Gavin Watson has a history spanning back over 150 years and specialises in wet glue label manufacturing for the spirits, coffee, food, water and beverage sectors. The strategic acquisition of TPL will extend the breadth of the Group’s services providing its clients with a ‘one-stop-shop’ for all their labelling needs, avoiding the need to use several manufacturers.
The mezzanine finance provided by the SLF has been utilised by GT4 to assist with its acquisition of TPL Labels Limited (“TPL”), a pressure sensitive label manufacturer headquartered in East Kilbride, as well as providing additional development capital to support the continued growth of the business.
Wet glue label manufacturing is a specialist market within the packaging sector and Gavin Watson is one of seven main players in the UK. Adding pressure sensitive labelling to the Group’s portfolio will enable the businesses to offer its renowned high quality production expertise and servicing levels to a market forecast to grow significantly over the coming years.
Blantyre based Gavin Watson employs 70 staff and serves a range of high profile blue chip customers including Highland Spring, Nestle, AG Barr, Diageo, Innocent and Baxter’s Food Group. The acquisition of TPL will bring a number of new clients to the Group, covering a broad range of industries including spirits, beer, automotive, cosmetics, electronics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
Julie Glenny, Investment Director at Maven, said: “This acquisition by The GT4 Group makes strategic sense on a number of levels and provides significant cross selling opportunities across both operations. We’re delighted the management team selected the SLF as its preferred funding partner and look forward to working with them in delivering their growth aspirations for the business.”
Ian Johnstone, Chairman at Gavin Watson Printers, added: “I am delighted to have concluded this acquisition, with the support of the SLF, TPL Labels is a well-managed high quality label manufacturer that will fit perfectly into our Group, allowing us to offer Pressure Sensitive Labels to our existing client base and extend the reach of the Group into new market sectors.”
The Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scotland’s main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, operating Scotland-wide in partnership with Highlands and Island Enterprise, is the cornerstone investor in the Scottish Loan Fund.
Michelle Kinnaird, Investment Director at the Scottish Investment Bank, said: “We are pleased to see the SLF supporting another ambitious Scottish company to expand. This investment allows the company to diversify and increase its product offering and deliver long term growth.”
Financial due diligence was conducted by Consilium, Legals by HBJ Gateley, Management referencing by Argyll Fenton, Commercial due diligence by RPL, and Insurance by Vista Insurance.
For further information, please contact:
Maven Capital Partners
Julie Glenny 0141 206 0122 julie.glenny@mavencp.com
Newgate
Adam Lloyd / Ed Treadwell 0207 653 9840 ed.treadwell@newgatecomms.com
The GT4 Group Limited
Ian Johnstone 01698 826000 ian@gt4.co.uk
About The GT4 Group
The GT4 Group is a label and packaging group based in Lanarkshire, manufacturing high quality wet glue and pressure sensitive labels, tube wraps and other packaging products and supplying these to a wide range of manufacturers across multiple industry sectors both in the UK and Europe.
About the Scottish Loan Fund: www.mavencp.com/slf
The Scottish Loan Fund was established by the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, with £55 million public sector funding from Scottish Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In February 2011 Maven Capital Partners were selected as the fund manager.
Additional investment from private sector investors, including Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Clydesdale Bank, Santander, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Aberdeen City Council Pension Fund took the fund to its final size of £113 million in March 2012. The fund was designed to address the market need for additional debt finance for SMEs. It provides mezzanine loan funding to growth and export businesses with an annual turnover of more than £1 million.
Since the SLF was established it has committed over £77 million across 29 Scottish-based companies.
About Maven Capital Partners UK LLP: www.mavencp.com
Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (Maven) is a small-to-mid cap private equity house focused on the provision of growth capital and mezzanine finance to SMEs across the UK. It is one of the most active private equity fund managers in the country, managing over £370m of assets for a variety of client funds, including Venture Capital Trusts, the Scottish Loan Fund, Capital for Enterprise Fund A, the Greater Manchester Loan Fund and a syndicate of Investor Partners including a number of family offices and high net worth individuals.
Headquartered in Glasgow, and with five other offices throughout the UK, Maven has nationwide coverage of the market for SME finance and is introduced to around 400 deals per year through 20 regionally based investment executives. With over 45 staff and partners, Maven executes a range of private company transactions, offers hands-on proactive portfolio management to investee companies and provides a fully integrated back-office support function to client and third party fund managers.
About the Scottish Investment Bank
The Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) is the investment arm of Scotland’s main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, operating Scotland-wide in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It manages a suite of co- investment funds including the Scottish Co-investment Fund and the Scottish Venture Fund, which are partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Renewable Energy Investment Fund and the Scottish Recycling Fund. SIB is the cornerstone investor in the privately-managed Scottish Loan Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners and an investor in Epidarex Capital’s life sciences fund. Our investment funds support Scotland’s SME funding market to ensure businesses with growth and export potential have adequate access to growth capital. We also provide a team of Financial Readiness specialists to help companies prepare for new investment and access appropriate finance.
Contact Information
Julia McLaren
Engagement Partner
Scottish Enterprise
0300 013 3223
07801 794046