The money continues to flow well within the glazing industry as Octopus announced they have invested a large sum of money in the Anglo European Group.
The statement:
Octopus Investments (‘Octopus’), a fast-growing UK fund management company with leading positions in several specialist sectors has today announced the completion of a significant investment in Anglo European Group Ltd (‘Anglo’), one of the UK’s largest suppliers of specialist steel sections for window and door reinforcement.
Anglo was founded in 1990 and has been successfully managed by Paul and Chris Sullivan. Since 1990 it has grown to become a market leader in its specialist areas. Anglo’s ‘cut to size’ proposition, which helps window manufacturers to make significant savings on reinforcement, differentiates its offering and has enabled the business to establish a high share of its market. Anglo now works with approximately 400 customers and delivers exceptional levels of service to its diverse client base. In April 2014, Anglo acquired Marybern Rolled Products Limited, a competitor located in North Wales, which provided the company with additional manufacturing capacity and storage.
The new strategic partnership sees Paul and Chris Sullivan release some of their equity to Octopus. CEO Paul Sullivan will become the majority shareholder in Anglo, while Chris Sullivan, will reduce his stake in the business. Peter Toland, previously CEO of Autologic, a leader in aftermarket automotive diagnosis also backed by Octopus, will become Chairman of Anglo.
Octopus and Toland will now assist Anglo in pursuing its expansion strategy, enabling the company to reach more customers both in the UK and abroad.
Paul Sullivan, CEO of Anglo, said: “This significant investment will allow Anglo to provide greater support for our customer base, while the appointment of Peter Toland as our new Chairman will be invaluable to our firm, given his significant business expertise. Octopus has an exceptional track record of backing companies like ours to help achieve success through organic growth, and we are delighted with the support they have provided as we seek to meet our ambitions for the business in the very near future.”
Grant Paul-Florence, head of the Intermediate Capital team at Octopus, said: “Anglo is an established and market leading business with an experienced management team, a unique market position and strong growth prospects. We are looking forward to working with Paul, Chris, Peter and the team as they take the business forward and move into the next exciting phase of development.”
Just in case you’re not sure who Octopus are, other than a sea creature, this is a bit about the company:
Octopus Investments is a fast-growing UK fund management business with leading positions in several specialist sectors including healthcare, energy and smaller company investing. Founded in 2000, Octopus manages more than £5 billion of funds on behalf of 50,000 investors.
Wouldn’t mind being a pound behind these guys!
Expansion the aim
It’s clear then that the money invested in Anglo-European is going to be used to help the company expand. All good news.
But it won’t be easy. All the mergers, buyouts and investments of the last few years have all come with the aim to expand. Every sysco and fabricator is looking to expand right now as well. Seems like the whole market is going for expansion. In a slowing economy, with below-required-levels of construction and what I believe is still an over-sized fabrication market given the number of installers and general demand, expansion won’t be easy.
Still, this is great news for Anglo-European and I’ll be sure to keep an eye on their progress in the coming years.
