Ambienta buys Collingwood from Baird

Baird reaped a 4x return on this investment, a source close to the situation told Unquote.

Ambienta has invested in the business via its third fund, which held a final close in May 2018, surpassing its €500m target and hitting its €635m hard-cap. The fund typically invests equity tickets of €30-100m with underwriting capacity of up to €140m. The target companies are mid-market businesses generating EBITDA of more than €10m from revenues of €30-100m. In terms of entry multiples, Ambienta looks at companies valued in the 5-13x EBITDA multiple bracket, depending on the industry.

The sale ends a three-year holding period for Baird, which acquired a majority stake in Collingwood via its $310m Baird Capital Global Fund I. The transaction saw the GP back CEO Steve Grao in the transition of ownership from the founder. Following the deal, Baird partners James Benfield and Dennis Hall joined Collingwood's board of directors.

Under Baird's ownership, Collingwood had a compound annual growth rate of 11% and doubled its adjusted EBITDA. The business gained market share in its traditional residential and landscape segments, and launched new products into adjacent commercial and industrial lighting sectors.

Company
Established in 1901 and headquartered in Sywell, Northamptonshire, Collingwood is a designer and supplier of residential and commercial exterior lights and light fittings for the refurbishment and new-build markets in the UK and France. 

The company generated operating profit of £2.3m and gross profit of £12m from revenues of £24.7m in 2019, according to publicly available documents. In 2020, the company generated EBITDA of around £6m.

People
Ambienta – Francesco Lodrini (partner); Matthew Norrington (principal).
Baird Capital – James Benfield (partner).
Collingwood Lighting – Steve Grao (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – DC Advisory (M&A); Alvarez & Marsal (tax); PwC (commercial due diligence); Osborne Clarke (legal); Willis Towers Watson (insurance due diligence).
Vendor – Raymond James (financial due diligence); Taylor Wessing (legal).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• Ambienta
• Baird Capital Partners Europe Ltd
• United Kingdom
• PwC
• Osborne Clarke
• Alvarez & Marsal
• DC Advisory Partners
• Taylor Wessing