Cairngorm’s latest timber deal

Specialist private equity house Cairngorm Capital Partners has unveiled its acquisition of a timber merchant – its latest deal in a bid to build up a group consolidating the sector in the UK.

Cairngorm, which has offices in Edinburgh and London, has purchased Sheffieldbased Arnold Laver & Co.

The latter is a family-run company established in 1920. It imports, distributes and manufactures timber, panels, decorative surfaces and joinery products, serving publicand private-sector construction, house-building and commercial companies.

And its customers include blue-chip construction companies while it is a favoured timber supplier for major infrastructure projects such as the London 2012 Olympics, Hinkley Point Power Station, HS2 and the Thames Tideway.

It joins Cairngorm Capital’s other timber brands – Thornbridge, North Yorkshire Timber and Rembrand – to create the largest independent timber business in the UK.

The new entity will have combinedrevenuesapproaching £250 million, and will be known collectively as The National Timber Group.

The deal is Cairngorm’s 16th proprietary acquisition since July 2016 and represents the next step in its buy-and-build strategy to create the group. The private equity firm said that in less than 12 months it has established a “marketleading” timber business, with a national presence extending from the north of Scotland to London and the south-west of England, with 52 sites and more than 1,300 employees. Its Scottish division is headquartered in Grangemouth and led by Alex Mcleod,

The latest deal was led by Neil Mcgill, investment director at Cairngorm Capital, who said: “We have been working hard to find opportunities to scale our timber business rapidly so we are delighted to be able to support the National Timber Group with this proprietary acquisition.”