Ethos is pleased to announce the buyout of Pet Mate, the UK-based designer, manufacturer and distributor of innovative pet products.
The transaction was led by Ethos Partners, whose principals and HNW investor base provided equity funding to support the acquisition. Ethos Partners is a private investment office set up by private equity professionals to provide £3-10m of supportive equity capital to established, ambitious UK companies. Senior debt was provided by Shawbrook Financial Sponsors.
Founded in 1986 by husband and wife Chris and Barbara Kirk, Pet Mate is a market leader in its pet product niche and has grown consistently at 15% per annum in recent years to over £2m EBITDA. Under the brands of Cat Mate, Dog Mate, Fish Mate, the company has established a reputation (over 30 years) for designing and marketing unique and innovative ranges of patented pet products including pet doors, feeders, watering fountains, and pond filters.
From its headquarters in Walton-on-Thames, the company currently sells across UK, Western Europe, US and Australia. In partnering with CEO Andrew Lane, the buyout presents an opportunity to continue to deliver ongoing product innovation in technology-led products and to drive domestic and international expansion.
Andrew Lane, CEO, said:
‘I am delighted that Ethos have invested in Pet Mate to pursue our growth strategy over the next few years. Having worked closely with Ethos over the last few months, I know they share the same level of ambition as me and the wider management team.’
Julian Carr, CEO at Ethos, commented:
‘Pet products is a very attractive market with the ‘humanisation’ of pets and Chris and Barbara have successfully built a market leader in their niche. We look forward to working with Andrew and the wider management team to help deliver the next stage of growth in an attractive and growing sector and we are delighted to have given our private investors the opportunity to participate in an exciting journey.’
James Salmon, Director at Shawbrook Financial Sponsors, added:
‘We are delighted to be backing Pet Mate, a long-established market-leader known for its range of high-quality tech-enabled pet products. The combination of current management with seasoned primary buyout operator Ethos, would seem the right fit to drive continued growth in its attractive end market.’
Ethos were advised on the transaction by HMT Corporate Finance (financial), Latitude Consulting (commercial), Spectrum Corporate Finance (debt advisory), Confidas People (management), and Harrison Clark Rickerbys (legal).