Trekking On For Growth.....

Posted by on 11 May 2011 | 0 Comments

Trekmates, the Nottingham based outdoor brand, has teamed up with EV Group who have secured a substantial minority equity stake in the business as part of an £8.7m deal. Additional debt facilities have been provided by The Co-operative Bank and the funding package will mean the business is well positioned to continue to grow. Now employing 25 people in Basford, Trekmates is a local success story having tripled in size over the past five years.

Trekmates design, source and supply a broad range of outdoor clothing and accessories to over 500 retailers both in the UK and overseas. The business serves the independent outdoor sector, large national chains and has a growing international presence. Established in 1997, Trekmates trades under its own brand with an emphasis on value for money products with high quality and technical excellence.

Trekmates will continue to be managed by serial entrepreneur and former CEO of Games Workshop Chris Prentice who chairs the business and Group Sales Director Jonathan Clayton. Prentice commented: “We are delighted to have attracted EV as equity investors to support us in taking the business forward. We have achieved an enormous amount in developing our brand and markets over recent years and look forward to growing the business further alongside EV.”

Simon Ward, who led the deal for EV alongside Paul Taberner said: “Trekmates is a great business that has shown strong growth over recent years, this deal demonstrates our commitment to partnering with entrepreneurs to achieve their goals. Since opening our Midlands office some 16 months ago we have now completed 4 transactions demonstrating our firm belief that quality, owner managed business are crying out for investment.”

Trekmates’ funding package and transaction was arranged by Simon Bursell of Dains Corporate Finance who commented: “Trekmates is one of the region’s success stories and has an exceptional management team. The new capital structure will enable the team to continue their expansion into Europe and develop their brand offering.”

Debt facilities were provided by Neil Wade and John Murphy of the The Co-operative Bank’s Nottingham Corporate Banking Centre.

John Murphy, senior corporate manager at The Co-operative Bank’s Nottingham Corporate Banking Centre, said: "The Bank is delighted to support another growing local business and to be working alongside EV the equity provider. We were impressed by both the product and the company’s successful historic performance, which we believe will continue to be built upon".

Legal advice to the company was provided by HBJ Gateley Wareing. Pinsent Masons were legal advisers to EV.

For more information regarding buying or selling a business email: corporatefinance@dains.com

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