Dains Corporate Finance advise Wrights Plastics on acquisition

Deal summary

West Bromwich based acrylic fabricator and Point of Sale (“POS”) display producer, Wrights Plastics, has acquired interior & window displays specialist, Mid West Displays, with corporate finance advice coming from Dains.

Wrights Plastics was formed in 1969 and is a leading acrylic fabricator who manufactures products for a range of industrial clients including sectors such as automotive and street furniture. The GPX brand makes retail display and POS products and the company has developed a large bespoke retail display and signage arm that works with some of the UK’s biggest retail brands such as Marks & Spencer, Selfridges and Tesco. With a turnover in excess of £10m, the company employs around 100 staff at its West Bromwich base, and remains a family-owned and family-run business.

Mid West Displays was formed in 2004 and is a leading design, manufacturer, supplier and installer of window & interior display products for the retail, property and exhibition sectors. Around 40 people are employed at their Shrewsbury headquarters. They also fabricate off-the-shelf and bespoke acrylic products.

The acquisition of Mid West Displays is the third in Wrights Plastics’ history, following the acquisitions of the POS manufacturer Acrylics Plus in 1998, and the Hertfordshire-based GPX Group in 2010.

Dains acted as lead advisor to Wrights Plastics in addition to undertaking financial and tax due diligence.

The difference we made

Roy Farmer and Rob Wilson provided both lead advisory services and financial due diligence support on the transaction. The lead advisory services covered valuation, deal structuring, negotiations with the vendors and the overall project management of the transaction.

The financial due diligence on the transaction included a review of the historic financials of Mid West Displays and its short-term forecasts, highlighting key price-impacting issues to assist in the negotiations with the vendors. Tax due diligence was aperformed by a specialist transaction tax team within Dains.

The entire process was overseen by Dains who maintained a close working relationship with Mike Wright throughout the process. Issues were dealt with as soon as they were identified, allowing the deal to complete in a timely manner.