RJD acquires Barber from PHD and Enterprise

Kenny Wastell
25 October 2016

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RJD Partners has acquired a majority stake in Barber of Sheffield, a distributor of products to the tattoo, piercing, veterinary and medical markets, from PHD Equity Partners and Enterprise Ventures.

The deal valuation has not been disclosed, though it represents an IRR of 44.5% for PHD and Enterprise, and comes four years after they invested a combined £2.7m in the company's management buyout.

Under the vendors' tenure, the business expanded via an acquisitive growth strategy, bolting on French competitor Northstar Tattoo Supply in 2012 and Hull-based Powerline Tattoo Supplies in 2015. It also invested in its premises and undertook a recruitment drive, most notably appointing Shop Direct's Richard Boston as managing director in 2014 and former Sheffield United Football Club's Craig Burns as financial director.

RJD said in a statement it would continue to pursue an international expansion strategy for Barber, as well as invest in product development.

The deal marks the third investment from RJD's third buyout fund, which held its first close on £50.5m in H1 2015. In February 2015, the fund provided £11m to support the management buyout of marine engineering company Burgess Marine, while 14 months later it invested in the £22m secondary buyout of vocational training company Babington Group from Bridges Ventures.

Debt
Santander provided a senior debt package to support the latest deal.

Previous funding
Enterprise and PHD invested £2.7m in the £4.4m all-equity buyout of Barber in May 2012, with Enterprise investing £1.7m and PHD providing £1m. The investors took an equity stake of approximately 60% as part of the deal, 22% of which were acquired by PHD.

Company
Headquartered in Barnsley and founded in 1991, Barber supplies equipment and consumables to the tattoo, piercing, veterinary and medical industries. Its products range from autopsy saws to surgical needles, tattoo machines and tattoo ink.

The business has a headcount of 45, up from 25 at the time of PHD's and Enterprise's first investment, and serves clients from 67 countries. Online revenue accounts for 70% of the company's turnover. According to a statement, Barber has doubled its EBITDA over the past three years.

People
Enterprise Ventures – Wayne Thomas (investment director).
PHD Equity Partners – Andy Dodd (partner).
RJD Partners – Alex Hay (partner); John Dillon (managing partner); Emily Hunt, Hugo Strachan (investment executives).
Barber of Sheffield – Richard Boston (managing director); Craig Burns (financial director).

Advisers
Equity – Osborne Clarke, Mark Spinner, Mark Saunders, Erika Jupe (legal, tax); Lincoln International, Mark Barrow (corporate finance); BDO, Matt Copley (commercial due diligence); Parthenon-EY, Paul Ahern (financial due diligence); RSM, Stephen Mason (financial due diligence).
Vendor – Dow Schofield Watts, Dave Graham, Pete Barkley (corporate finance); Hill Dickinson, Ian Riggs, Craig Scott, Jonathan Gillow, Rhian Hughes (legal); RSM, Colin Smyth (tax).
Debt – Squire Patton Boggs (legal).