Caledonia buys Cooke Optics from GCP for £96.5m

Greg Gille
13 July 2018

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Caledonia Investments has acquired a majority stake in Cooke Optics Group, a UK manufacturer of high-end cinematography lenses, from Growth Capital Partners (GCP).

The transaction values the business at £96.5m. Caledonia deployed £62.5m in equity and £30m in debt to acquire around 89% of Cooke from its current owners, GCP and the company's management team. The management team reinvested £7.8m of their sales proceeds to secure the remaining equity.

The purchase price equates to an EBITDA multiple of around 12.5x, based on Cooke's £7.7m EBITDA reported for the year to June 2017.

GCP stated that the exit generated a money multiple of 4.4x for GCP Fund III.

Caledonia and the business stated they are planning to capitalise on growth opportunities based on technological innovation, increased demand from China and the expansion of the digital streaming market globally.

Previous funding
GCP acquired a significant minority stake in Cooke in 2015, according to Unquote Data.

Company
Founded in 1886, Cooke is a manufacturer of high-end cinematography lenses for the film, television and advertising industries. Headquartered in Leicester, it has 130 full-time employees and posted a £20.7m turnover in the year to June 2017. EBITDA during that time amounted to £7.7m, for a profit before tax of £2.8m.

People
Caledonia Investments – Chris Hodges (director); Alex Mills (investment manager); Theo Tizard (investment executive).
Growth Capital Partners – Garrett Curran (managing partner), Alex Thomson (investment director).

Advisers
Equity – Travers Smith, Ian Shawyer, Adam Orr (legal); Alvarez & Marsal, Adrian Balcombe (financial due diligence); CiL Management Consultants, Tabitha Elwes (commercial due diligence); Deloitte, Tim Haden (tax); Wyvern Partners, Mike Barnes (debt advisory).
Vendors – PwC, Cara Haffey (corporate finance); Squire Patton Boggs, Paul Mann (legal).