Velcro Acquires Petface - Financial Due Diligence

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Petface Limited (Petface) is a UK wholesaler and distributor of a wide range of products for pets, small animals and wild birds, including accessories, toys, bedding and feed. Customers include many of the UK’s national retailers, specialist pet stores, and garden centres. The company stocks and supplies over 3,000 products, and owns and operates under 17 well-known brands. Many of the products are manufactured overseas to designs produced by Petface, and imported into the UK for onward supply to customers.

The company has been operating since 2010 with its management team holding over 50 years’ experience in the industry. Customers are supplied from the company’s warehousing facilities in the East of England.

The company was acquired by Velcro Holdings BV in March 2017.

OUR ROLE

Orbis were engaged by Velcro Holdings BV (Velcro) to undertake financial due diligence on the company in support of the acquisition of Petface by Velcro.

Funding for the acquisition and to support the working capital needs of the business was provided from Velcro’s resources.

• Worked with Velcro to agree a formal scope for the due diligence, to include a detailed review of the funding and working capital needs of Petface.
• Undertook a detailed investigation of the historical, current and forecast financial performance and position of the company, with particular focus on projected performance and the future funding needs of the company.
• Undertook a review of the tax affairs of the company under taxation due diligence.
• Provided regular updates on our analysis to Velcro.
• Presented a written report to Velcro on the conclusions and findings of our work.
• Provided assistance to Velcro on the financial terms of the legal agreements for the acquisition, particularly in relation to the treatment of debt levels and normalised working capital.