H.I.G. Europe Acquires Brand Addition
LONDON – March 27, 2012 – H.I.G. Europe, the European arm of global private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, today announces that it has acquired, through an affiliate, Manchester-based Brand Addition, a European leader in the supply of promotional merchandising, from U.K. listed firm 4imprint, in a management buyout valued at £24m.
Brand Addition is a market leader in the provision of promotional products to large corporates across Europe for use in their corporate marketing and consumer promotion campaigns. The business provides a full outsource service including product design, ethical sourcing, stock holding/management, international logistics and web creation/hosting. Customers include numerous Global Fortune 500 companies. The company employs 260 people across 5 offices in the UK, Germany and China.
Paul Canning, Managing Director of H.I.G. Europe, said: “Brand Addition is a highly cash generative business with an excellent market position and an experienced management team. We look forward to working with management to grow the company both organically and through bolt-on acquisitions. H.I.G. Europe has had considerable success working with marketing services companies through its existing portfolio of companies.”
Chris Lee, chief executive of Brand Addition, said: “We are very pleased to have completed the MBO of Brand Addition with H.I.G. Europe. With their backing, we will be in a strong position to take advantage of this growth market, which is worth more than £3billion across Europe.”
Alastair Mills, Director of H.I.G. Europe added: “Chris and the team have successfully repositioned Brand Addition into one fully integrated company with a model perfectly suited to servicing large multinational clients. We look forward to supporting the continued growth of the business.”
H.I.G. Europe has completed 12 new European investments since the beginning of 2011.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. Capital is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than £6 billion of equity capital under management and a team of more than 225 investment professionals. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well managed manufacturing or service businesses. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 50 companies with combined revenues in excess of £5 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.hig.com.