Gresham backs the 82m management buy-out of Johnson Clothing Ltd

Gresham, the UK mid market private equity specialist, today announces that it has exchanged contracts on the £82.5 million management buy-out of Johnson Clothing Limited (“JCL”), the leading UK corporatewear provider, from Johnson Service Group PLC (“JSG”). The completion of the deal is subject to shareholder approval.

JCL, to be renamed Dimensions Clothing, is made up of five companies – Dimensions, DCC, Boyd Cooper, Wessex Textiles and Yaffy. Gresham previously acquired Dimensions in December 2000 and sold it to JSG in July 2004. Subsequently, JSG have built around the core Dimensions brand, making a number of acquisitions to create JCL - the market leader in design, sourcing and supply of corporatewear. JCL processes over 1 million garments per month to tight customer service standards.

Headquartered in the East Midlands, JCL focuses on a range of private sectors including Retail, Finance and Healthcare together with public sector bodies including the Ambulance Services and the Police. Key customers include HBOS, Lloyds TSB, M&S, NHS, Post Office, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco.

The UK corporatewear market is currently worth over £450m a year. The deal will allow JCL to capitalise on the increasing trend of companies outsourcing their corporatewear needs both in the public and private sector and to invest further in its infrastructure to deliver the anticipated business growth.

The management buy-out is led by Simon Hughes, the Chief Executive Officer.

Simon Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of JCL, said: “Partnering with Gresham again will provide us with a strong platform from which to grow the business in the future. We had a very will enable us to expand into new sectors and we are excited by the opportunities that lie ahead in independent ownership successful relationship throughout Gresham’s previous ownership and will use their knowledge of the business and sector to continue the success we have had in the market. The new funding.”

The deal was led from Gresham’s Birmingham office by partner, Simon Inchley who adds: “We are delighted to be backing Simon Hughes and his team for the second time. This is the market leading business in the supply of managed corporate clothing and is one hundred percent customer focused. Our investment, together with the support of our Midlands-based banking club, will facilitate growth whilst maintaining the high standards of service demanded by JCL’s customer base.”

The Gresham deal team comprised of Simon Inchley, Paul Franks, Mitch Titley and Andy Tupholme.

Lead adviser to Gresham and the management team was KPMG Corporate Finance’s Midlands team, led by Stephen Craik and Morgan Atherton.

Debt facilities were provided by Lloyds TSB, Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland.