Denby Pottery

Pots and Plans...Denby Pottery, the 200-year-old manufacturer of premium casual tableware has been acquired by its management team. The deal was backed by Valco, the private equity arm of restructuring specialist, Hilco.

Established in 1809, Denby is one of the UK’s leading casual table wear brands. The group employs c.700 staff at its 400,000 sq.ft. manufacturing facility in Derbyshire and through its 16 retail outlets across the UK. It has turnover of c.£40m and supplies products to more than 30 countries worldwide.

Instead of a typical asset purchase, Valco, a financial investor and part of Hilco, purchased the debt from the bank syndicate which enabled Valco to take control of the process and avoided the negative publicity of a well known brand going into administration. This existing debt in the business was restructured and re-phased creating a typical MBO structure with management incentivised with a significant equity shareholding.

Clearwater was appointed to advise the Board with its negotiations with its bankers, following a downturn in Denby’s financial performance culminating in covenant breaches. Clearwater assisted in formulating a recovery plan that it helped management to present to potential trade buyers and investors. As equity value in the business had been eroded, Clearwater also assisted in the negotiation of a new management incentive scheme to ensure all stakeholders'interests were aligned to providing an exit for the banking syndicate.

Clearwater introduced Valco to the deal as a management friendly investor who had a large industry consolidation plan for Denby.