Gresham Trust backs £55m ColourCare deal. Management buy-out of leading UK photoprocessor

ColourCare, the UK's largest wholesale photoprocessor, is being bought by its management in a £55m deal arranged and led by Gresham Trust, the private equity house.

Leading the management buy-out is Bill McInnes, aged 53, who becomes managing director of ColourCare, which has a 1,600-strong workforce at seven UK laboratories and a head office in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

ColourCare offers a next-day developing, printing and photo imaging service to over 13,000 retailers nationwide, ranging from major high street chains to independent pharmacy and photographic outlets. It has the strongest distribution channel of any photoprocessor and around 22 million films are processed annually. Through its QMS division, ColourCare is the UK's largest processor of estate agency property photographs.

ColourCare expects to achieve a turnover of £55m in the coming year. Its growth prospects are supported by ongoing development of innovative added-value products and services, new digital-based services and the rising popularity of the Advanced Photo System (APS).

Bernard Norman, aged 58, becomes non-executive chairman of ColourCare. He is non-executive chairman of the Morris Homes Group, the Simon Jersey Group, the Prize Food Group, the Wallace Arnold Group, the Tulchan Group and Pall Mall Support Services Ltd.

Also included in the buy-out team are David Rose, aged 39, Kevin Stagg, aged 48, and Glen Burdett, aged 32, as sales directors and Alan Vincent, aged 51, as information technology director.

Bill McInnes says, "We intend to build on ColourCare's existing strengths of a comprehensive and innovative product and service portfolio backed up by high standards of quality and customer care."

Ryan Robson, who led the transaction for Gresham with Mark Hammond, joins the ColourCare board as a non-executive director. Ryan Robson says, "ColourCare has a unique own-label offering. Gresham is committed to backing the management to build upon the strong infrastructure and service standards of the business."

Debt for the transaction was provided by Bank of Scotland in London.

Richard Jones and Tony Trussell, of Ernst & Young's southern region corporate finance team, initiated the transaction and acted as lead adviser, with Geoffrey Pickerill of Lawrence Graham acting as legal adviser to the vendors.