Private equity group Mobeus Equity Partners has backed a management buyout of two United Kingdom-based expanded polystyrene sister companies: Jablite and Styropack UK Ltd.
The management team for the companies, led by Managing Director Richard Lee, Finance Director Ken Hutchins and Operations Director Wayne Brown now own the companies along with new chairman John Colley.
The firms say that they jointly are the largest EPS manufacturer in the United Kingdom. Both had been owned by the Netherlands-based Synbra Group BV. Terms of the deal, announced April 28, were not released.
The acquisitions create a new company with combined annual sales of more than 40 million pounds ($61.7 million) and 140 employees across the U.K.
Jablite specializes in EPS for construction and insulation. It has production in Belvedere and Howden, England. Styropack makes foam for packaging, typically for fish, horticulture and appliances.
Styropack, with operations in Aberdeen, Scotland and Blackburn and Arundel, England, marked its 50th anniversary early this year.
Lee, who now co-owns the companies, has a long history with Styropack.
“I never imagined as a 17 year old starting work as a machine operator at Styropack in West Sussex I would eventually end up owning the business and its sister company 28 years later,” he said in a news release. “Be in no doubt, we are absolutely determined to grow our new company into a larger, thriving business whose products are always the first choice for insulation and packaging in the U.K.”