Lodders supports investors on £5.5 million acquisition

Lodders’ Corporate & Commercial practice has supported private investors on a £5.5m acquisition of Sandland Packaging, a Black Country cardboard packaging supplier. 

The deal was funded by a mix of new equity investment, £2.6m loan facilities from Frontier Development Capital (FDC), and invoice discounting facilities from Independent Growth Finance (IGF). 

Lodders acted for the new acquiring company on the terms of the equity investment, the new lending from FDC and IGF, and the terms of the acquisition from the founding owners. 

Sandland Packaging was established over 30 years ago and specialises in the production of cardboard packaging for customers across the UK. The firm operates a complete service, including packaging design, manufacture, and delivery through its fleet of vans. 

It has seen strong growth in recent years as the advantages of cardboard as a sustainable packaging solution are increasingly recognised – it is estimated that 84 percent of cardboard is currently recycled in the UK. 

Multi-faceted deal 

Leading Lodders’ team on the transaction was Graham Spalding, partner in the Corporate and Commercial team, who says: “This deal demonstrates the firm’s skill and expertise in handling multi-faceted deals: 

“Whilst this deal was in many ways a typical acquisition transaction, it was not without some complexity given the various parties involved. In acting for the acquiring new company, we had to advise on the terms of the facilities from the two new lenders, handle the priority arrangements between them, as well as the new equity and shareholder loans, the acquisition of the shares in the target from the sellers, due diligence, and disclosure, so pretty much all aspects of the deal.” 

He adds: “It was great to lead Lodders’ team on this West Midlands deal and see the transfer of Sandland Packaging to new ownership, which has high hopes for the development of the business over the coming years. Lodders has great ambition to grow its corporate offering and deals like this are our bread and butter.” 

Robin Welch led the team of new investors. He says: “Graham and his team looked after us very well and very capably managed us through the process. As usual on deals, there were challenges along the way, but the Lodders team took these in their stride, expertly led by Graham in a calm and assured manner. We hope to work with Lodders, Graham and the corporate team on future projects planned as part of our ongoing development and growth.” 

Lodders corporate team focuses on deals involving owner managers with typical transaction sizes of £1-20m.