A national timber group with a portfolio of businesses across Yorkshire has been acquired by a leading investment partnership focused on the acquisition of industrial companies throughout Europe and North America.
Rubicon Partners has acquired the share capital of Consolidated Timber Holdings Group (CTHG) which is a leading importer, distributor and manufacturer of timber products.
Companies within the group include Triesse, which is based in Sherburn in Elmet and is one of the UK’s largest independent processors of wood-based panels and manufacturers of veneered and laminated boards.
Susan Clark (pictured), partner and head of corporate at LCF Law, advised the director-shareholders of CTHG, after previously guiding Triesse on a management buyout 27 years ago.
Other companies in the group include MBM Speciality Forest Products, which has a base in Hull and imports and distributes specialist timber products, and Falcon Panel Products, which specialises in wood-based sheet materials, and has a depot in Normanton. CTHG’s other companies are Compass Forest Products, Hoffman Thornwood and MBM Forest Products.
Rubicon’s investment will facilitate an agreed ownership-management transition for the director-shareholders of CTHG under the guidance of newly-appointed Group CEO of CTHG, Nick Cullen. Four of the five director-shareholders will remain at CTHG, providing continuity and assisting with the transition over a two-year period.
Cullen said: “Rubicon has acquired CTHG due to the market opportunities, the significant potential to grow the group by investing in both the distribution and manufacturing sides of the business, and the increasing appeal of timber products as a sustainable material in the UK residential and commercial construction market. The Rubicon and CTHG teams look forward to continuing to work with current suppliers and customers in a seamless manner.”
Clark said: “After originally advising Triesse’s managing director, David Colman, when he led a management buy-out of the business in 1994, it has been a privilege to provide legal support and advice on the sale of CTHG.”
