Flowcrete Group has been acquired by US-based RPM International, a multinational holding company with subsidiaries that manufacture and market high-performance coatings, sealants and speciality chemicals. RPM is listed on the New York stock exchange.
Flowcrete, which has its headquarters in Sandbach, Cheshire, UK, was founded in 1982 by father and daughter team of Peter and Dawn Gibbins, MBE, Flowcrete’s current Chairman.
Today, Flowcrete is a multi-million pound international business, with 30 offices and 12 manufacturing plants across the globe. Flowcrete employs 350 people around the world and recently recorded a record financial performance, achieving sales of more than £44 million in 2007 an increase of 24% on 2006 figures.
RPM International recorded sales of U$3.3 billion in 2007 with 63% to industry worldwide and the remaining 37% to domestic consumers mainly in North America.
Flowcrete will continue to be led by the current management team, with Mark Greaves continuing as group managing director. “We have been looking for some time at ways to raise funds for the group to give it the financial muscle to make further acquisitions. This deal will enable the company to grow and expand, both in the UK and overseas. Our brief is to further aggressively expand the business to become the world’s leading specialist flooring company,” Mark Greaves said.
Flowcrete Chairman Dawn Gibbins said, “Flowcrete has been a central part of my life for 25 years but I am glad it is being transferred into the ownership of such an entrepreneurial company as RPM, under a deal that gives the company a platform for growth, stability and success.”
In 1994, Dawn Gibbins received an MBE for services to industry and the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year title in 2003. Dawn Gibbins has also been made a Pioneer to the Life of our Nation by the Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
The sale gives Dawn, 49, the opportunity to fulfil a life-long ambition to create a social enterprise which promotes, educates and supports the concept of Feng Shui and healthy environments into the UK’s residential and business communities.
Brabners Chaffe Street have acted as legal advisers for the deal and Ernst and Young have handled the tax aspects.