Window and conservatory supplier Anglian Home Improvements is seeking a buyer to rescue it from bank ownership. The move will mark it as the first amongst the several businesses hit by the credit crunch in bank ownership to do so.
The consortium of banks that took over the window supplier in 2008, including Lloyds and Barclays, have announced that Anglian is ready to be taken back into private ownership. In the bank’s care Anglian has been subject to a comprehensive restructuring to reduce its costs, improve controls and instill a stronger focus on the environment.
KPMG has been drafted in to value the business and review its sale options.
Anglian chairman Bob Ellis commented, “We have flourished under bank ownership but it was always clear that this was never a permanent arrangement. As a result we are now discussing with advisers the ways we could return to a more traditional ownership structure.”
After the banks implemented a £39.5 million debt-for-equity swap, Anglian was left with £110 million of financing. Its previous owner, private equity outfit Alchemy – which bought Anglian in 2001 – had pushed the conservatory supplier though an aggressive growth strategy, increasing manufacturing and depot capacity but subsequently also increasing its costs.
Anglian reported a turnover of £209.3 million for the year to March, up on last year’s £208.9 million. Its earnings before tax, depreciation and amortisation reached 21.1 million, a 41 per cent rise on the £14.9 million in the previous year.
