Eye on Finance
MBO AT BODEL DISTRIBUTORS THANKS TO ABL FUNDING FROM CLOSE BROTHERS
Lisburn-based distribution company Bodel Distributors has completed an MBO with the support of funding from Close Brothers, enabling Sales Director John Leckey to acquire the business he has worked in for 23 years.
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odel is the foremost distributor of appliances, sinks, taps and kitchen equipment for leading brands such as Franke, Bosch, Smeg, Liebherr and CDA. Employing 25 staff and dealing primarily in the Irish market, it provides a complete portfolio of products in all price brackets for kitchen studios, electrical retailers and builders merchants. Close Brothers’ ABL (asset based lending) product works alongside their invoice finance solutions and releases additional capital currently tied up in property, plant and machinery, or as in this case stock, together with cashflow finance. New owner of Bodel, John Leckey commented, “With Bodel
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celebrating its 40th birthday this year, I am very pleased to have partnered with Close Brothers to facilitate the acquisition, and look forward to writing the next chapter in the history of this thriving business. I was impressed with Close Brothers’ flexibility and creativity in structuring this transaction. We needed to find a lender who saw the strategy, supported the vision, and put enough funding in place to enable the MBO to progress.” Joel Callaghan, Corporate Sales Director for Close Brothers Commercial Finance added, “Close Brothers demonstrated a flexible approach in structuring this transaction that appealed to the Bodel management team. We were able to offer an appropriate ABL funding structure incorporating a level of committed term debt that gave the vendor and his advisory team the degree of comfort that they needed and the assurance that the required funding quantum was deliverable. We are delighted to have been able to provide a solution
which enabled this successful and progressive business to realise their succession plans and look forward to building a long-term partnership.” Close Brothers Commercial Finance is part of Close Brothers Group plc, a leading merchant banking group and FTSE 250 company. The ABL proposition is suitable for businesses seeking to refinance existing facilities; fund an MBO or acquisition; or simply looking to increase working capital. As with all of the products and services, the
funding package delivered will be bespoke and flexible, keeping the business needs of the customer in mind at all times. Advisers on the transaction were RSM and McMahonMcKay for the vendor, and HannawayCA and C&H Jefferson for the MBO team.
For more information on Close Brothers contact us: T. 07894 810371 E. joel.callaghan@closebrothers W: www.closecommercialfinance.ie