Celtic Linen snaps up rival Millbrook to create a €20m-valued laundry business
COMMERCIAL laundry business Celtic Linen has acquired rival business Millbrook Linen for an undisclosed sum.
Celtic, which provides services to the healthcare and hospitality sectors, will now have a facility in Naas alongside its existing facility.
The new entity has an enterprise value of around €20m, the Sunday Independent understands. Enterprise value is a metric used for valuing a business, which adds the value of a company’s shares with its debt, and subtracts its cash.
The merged business will have around 300 fulltime equivalent employees. Funding for the deal was provided by SME-focused private equity firm Causeway Capital, which backed Celtic Linen out of examinership in December 2016. Ulster Bank provided debt financing.
“The laundry and linen business demands de- termination and significant investment in state-ofthe-art facilities to meet customer requirements in our core sectors,” said Celtic Linen chief executive Donald Campbell.
“This transaction caps a period of significant investment for Celtic Linen during 2017. We have now completed a major upgrade to our Wexford facility investing in new, high-quality textiles to improve the efficiency of our business and the quality of service for our customers.
“Millbrook has an excellent reputation with its customers and the combined business will be much better placed to provide an excellent service to hospitality and healthcare customers throughout Ireland.”
The management team led by Campbell has completed a multimillion euro investment programme since the initial Causeway deal.
Millbrook Linen founders Karen and Keith Sheridan are joining the management team of the enlarged group and have become shareholders.
“This transaction enables Millbrook to offer a better service to existing customers and also provides nationwide coverage. Karen and I are delighted to be joining the Celtic team and helping the business to grow,” Keith Sheridan said.
Celtic Linen has also appointed Tom Joyce as chairman and a non-executive director. He is a textile industry veteran having been managing director of Connacht Court Group until 2003.