Clearwater advises Findel on its sale to Manutan

Transaction

Endless sold Findel to Manutan

Sell-side

Undisclosed

Role

Adviser to Findel on its sale to Manutan

Sector

Business Services

Region

United Kingdom

Clearwater has advised Endless and the management shareholders of Findel, an educational resources supplier, on its sale to Manutan, a leader in European B2B e-commerce.

Headquartered in Hyde, Greater Manchester, Findel also has a distribution centre and offices in Nottingham and employs around 300 people. The company’s brands and websites offer more than 32,000 products to educators and parents based in the UK and overseas, with the business exporting to 130 countries.

Endless originally acquired Findel in April 2021, from Studio Retail Group plc. Findel is now widely recognised as a market leader within the UK educational resources supplies.

Headquartered in Paris, Manutan, which has a specialism in educational supplies, employs 2,200 people and operates 28 subsidiaries across 17 European countries, including the UK. The business offers more than 800,000 products to its customers and has a turnover of €946m, with the company’s mission of ‘enterprising for a better world.’

It’s been a remarkable three years with the Endless team, where we have transformed the business from an unloved and non-core division of a plc to the digital leader in our sector with ESG at the heart of our operations and culture. We’ve invested in our family of brands, giving them each a distinct identity that matches their customer's wants and needs. We’ve invested in our operations and systems to ensure we can, and are, giving our customers the best experience we can with most orders delivered within 24 hours. Endless also encouraged us to be brave with our ESG commitments and we completed a refinancing with a sustainability linked loan. This has impactful ESG-related covenants, and we made further public commitments by joining the Science Based Targets Initiative. As a business, we have always done a lot in the communities in which we operate, and we then launched the Findel Foundation, as the umbrella for all of our charitable and social work supporting children and education. It was as a result of this sustainable, in every sense, business transformation that we were then able to attract a fantastic business like Manutan to become our new, long-term owner. I want to thank Rob, James, Christian, and Dan at Clearwater who have been a first-class advisory team from start to finish, it has been a great experience and journey. Throughout, it has been a well-run, well-thought-out process and Clearwater has been exceptional. We have ended up with the best possible, long-term sustainable investor for Findel in Manutan, without a doubt, the best result for the future of the business.
Chris Mahady, Chief Executive, Findel

It has been an absolute pleasure working closely with Chris and the entire team at Findel. Working with a team who cares so passionately about what they do and, importantly, how they do it, was a real privilege. Our role in this partnership was to provide guidance and support to the management team to help them unlock the huge latent potential in the business. At Endless, we are only ever a temporary custodian of a business, but I’m incredibly proud of what our teams have achieved over the last three years and look forward to seeing what they can do as part of the Manutan Group in the future.
Andy Ross, Investment Partner, Endless

Following on from our strong growth in recent years, we're delighted to be acquiring Findel, whose culture, focus on people, performance, and shared values are totally aligned with our principles. We also share the same business model, which combines the strengths of digital technology (our e-commerce solutions) with a strong focus on sustainability, providing service excellence to customers and suppliers.
Xavier Guichard, Owner and Chairman, Manutan

As the true market-leading platform in the UK, the acquisition of Findel is a highly strategic move for Manutan and is a great step forward for both businesses. There are huge opportunities unlocked through this partnership and we are excited to see what will be achieved together in the future. With the support of Endless, Chris and his team have led the significant transformation of Findel, creating a socially and environmentally impactful B2B e-commerce platform of scale, delivering exceptional service levels to its customers across the education landscape. It's been a pleasure to advise on this deal, we wish Findel and Manutan all the best in the future.
Rob Burden, Partner, Clearwater