H.I.G. Capital to Acquire Travis Perkins Plc’s UK Plumbing & Heating Business

H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with over €36 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that one of its affiliates has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Travis Perkins Plc’s Plumbing & Heating business (the “Company” or “P&H”), one of the UK’s leading plumbing, heating, and bathroom related products specialist merchants. The divestiture is valued at approximately £325 million, and the transaction is expected to be completed within the next three months, following regulatory approval.

Headquartered in Northamptonshire, P&H operates under its primary trading brands City Plumbing Supplies (CPS) and Plumbing Trade Solutions (PTS), with over 350 branches across the UK and Ireland, alongside several specialist online outlets including The Underfloor Heating Store, Direct Heating Spares, PlumbNation, and National Shower Spares. The Company, led by Dave Evans and supported by an experienced senior leadership team, serves trade customers and consumers across the residential and commercial construction categories.

H.I.G.’s investment will support P&H in its transition to an independent company and accelerate its customer-focused expansion in the UK and Ireland.

Dave Evans, CEO of P&H said: “The sale to H.I.G. is great news for P&H and its stakeholders. We are recognised as a market leader across many of our businesses and the categories they operate in and I am very excited to work with the team at H.I.G. to capitalise on the enormous potential for growth we have within the UK and Ireland. We are well positioned to push forward with our plans for growth by developing more customer-focused propositions delivered by over 3,000 dedicated team members. I look forward to building an even stronger business in the coming years.”

Markus Noe-Nordberg, Managing Director and Head of the H.I.G. European Middle Market LBO team, which led the transaction, commented: “We are thrilled to welcome the Plumbing & Heating business from Travis Perkins into the H.I.G. family. H.I.G. has had great success investing in speciality distribution assets, and we will use this experience to support management in maximising the Company’s potential. This transaction is an ideal fit with our investment mandate and once more underscores H.I.G.’s ability to execute on complex transactions such as carve-outs.”

Tobias Borkowski, Principal at H.I.G. Europe, added: “We believe that the Company, as a freestanding enterprise, can better serve the individual needs of its customers, and rapidly expand its trusted relationships with suppliers. We are excited to partner with Dave and his entire team and look forward to supporting the Company’s continued growth.”

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal counsel to H.I.G. Capital. Morgan Stanley is acting as financial advisor and Linklaters LLP as legal counsel to Travis Perkins Plc.

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over €36 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with European offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and U.S. and Latin American offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:

1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm's current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of €27 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

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