The Business
Jablite is the UK’s largest producer of expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation products.
The Deal
Jablite was a subsidiary of a larger European EPS maker, which was sold piecemeal by its private equity owners. We provided a combined debt and equity investment of £5 million in addition to arranging a £16.5 million sale and leaseback of the company’s property portfolio. This was a complex transaction that included separation of the UK operations from that of its European parent and the carve-out of two defined benefit pension schemes.
The Plan
The investment was significantly de-risked with £3.5 million of the £5 million investment being repaid to the VCTs within five months of completing the deal, at a time when the UK construction market was recovering from a low point during the recession. The focus is now on seeking fresh ways to engineer the product to reduce manufacturing costs.
