IWS Group Gets LDC Funding to Support Acquisitive Expansion Strategy
LDC, a leading mid-market private equity firm, has made a significant minority investment in IWS Group, a global provider of warehouse safety, impact protection, and storage equipment, to support its ongoing purchase and build strategy.
The IWS Group provides essential products and services to the global warehousing, logistics, and material handling sectors. IWS Group, through its expanding family of companies, offers its customers a one-stop solution for making their locations safer, more efficient, and environmentally sustainable.
The group has a global customer base, including operators, contractors, system integrators, and resellers.
In the previous decade, the number of business premises used for transportation, logistics, and warehousing doubled in the United Kingdom alone. With the continued expansion of e-commerce, the demand for warehousing solutions is expected to increase in the UK and across worldwide markets.
LDC is backing the existing management team, led by CEO Jeroen van den Berge and Director Tim Lacey, to continue its acquisitive growth strategy, having already made four acquisitions in the last four years.
The company is trying to acquire complementary businesses that will broaden its specialised products and services portfolio while also increasing its international reach, notably in Europe.
IWS Group will also continue to invest in organic new product development, capitalising on the strength and success of its innovative product brand portfolio, which includes racksack®, a market-leading range of space-saving waste sacks that provide businesses with a simple and cost-effective waste segregation solution, and Rack Armour®, the original pallet racking upright protection guard.
The investment was led by LDC’s team in the West Midlands, including Investment Director Matt Newbold, Partner and Head of the West Midlands Chris Handy and Investment Director Karen Mann.
Jeroen van den Berge, CEO and co-founder of IWS Group, said:
“Safety, efficiency, and sustainability have never been more important to our customers. We have grown significantly by bringing businesses into the group that help us to build on our credentials as a full-service provider to industrial workplaces.”
Matt Newbold, Investment Director at LDC in the Midlands, said:
“The IWS Group is a market-leading provider of through-life services to the growing and evolving industrial workspace market, supporting their customers with solutions focused on safety and efficiency. The continued strength of the UK and European logistics & warehousing sector is a strong market driver, with operators increasingly focused on bespoke-designed, energy-efficient solutions to meet the long-term structural growth of this market, which IWS is well-placed to support.
“We’re excited to support the team at IWS Group to pursue their organic, M&A and international growth plans.”
LDC is currently supporting more than two-thirds of its portfolio to expand through acquisition. Over the past two years, it has provided funding and expertise to help its portfolio firms complete more than 100 acquisitions. The firm also has extensive experience supporting industrial businesses to achieve successful acquisitive growth strategies, including Kee Safety, Stuart Turner, and ADEY.
LDC recently announced that it extended its partnership with The Prince’s Trust to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. The five-year partnership will help up to 10,000 young people across the UK to start, sustain and grow their own businesses.
Newco was provided with acquisition facilities by HSBC UK, Leveraged Finance, and HSBC Asset Management, Direct Lending, and was advised by Eversheds Sutherland, FRP Advisory, EY, Strategy&, Interpath, and KPMG.
IWS Group was advised by Rothschild & Co, Arrowpoint Advisory and Addleshaw Goddard, with vendor due diligence services provided by CIL and Mazars.
Source: LDC
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