UPDATED: Endless buys floor distributor to help it grow

Endless LLP has supported the carve-out of SIG’s carpet and flooring business, C&F.

C&F is one of the UK’s biggest floor distributors and serves customers from 12 sites across England, Scotland and Wales.

The newly formed company will now trade as Carpet and Flooring (Trading) Limited following its separation from SIG.

C&F was established in 1992 and has grown into one of the UK’s largest distributors of floor covering products.

It stocks and distributes products from Europe’s biggest flooring manufacturers.

With turnover of £100m, the business employs more than 380 people across its national branch network, including its distribution centre in Redditch, in the Midlands. Endless LLP has focused on non-core buyouts from large corporates.

An Endless spokesman said: “Having started investing its fourth fund of £525m two years ago, this will be Endless’ 14th deal from the fund, following investments in businesses such as Imtech, MTI, Arran Aromatics and Essential Fleet Services.”

Lisa Tomlin, Carpet & Flooring’s managing director, said, “This is a very exciting time for our company and for our people and we are delighted to have Endless as our new partner.

“Endless was immediately aligned with our growth ambitions and the future feels very bright.

“We are also grateful to SIG for enabling us to deliver this buyout quickly once it was clear that Carpet & Flooring no longer fitted with its core strategy.”

Aidan Robson, partner at Endless, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Lisa Tomlin and the management team with their growth plans for Carpet & Flooring. The business has huge potential and we have earmarked significant investment to support the company’s operational and commercial initiatives. This will see the company’s national footprint expand significantly over the coming years.

“As a ‘hands-on’ transformational investor, this is exactly the sort of business we know we can help and we are excited to be taking Carpet & Flooring forward into its next growth phase.”

Mr Robson said that Carpet & Flooring was currently number two in the market, and had the potential grow organically and by bolt-on acqusitions.

He said Endless was attractive to companies looking to sell parts of their business because the market knew that Endless offered a “good home”. Endless will invest in businesses and support them, Mr Robson said.

He added: “We are seeing a strong pipeline of opportunities.”

He added that the UK has some “phenomenal businesses” and Endless was in a position to support these companies and their management teams.

Endless was advised on the deal by Walker Morris and KPMG, while SIG was advised by Squire Patton Boggs and PwC.

Endless was founded by Garry Wilson and Darren Forshaw in 2005 and is currently deploying its fourth fund of £525m from investors in the US, UK, continental Europe and China.

The firm focuses on acquiring businesses which it can improve operationally, such as “carve outs” from large corporates, acquisitions from other private equity houses, management buyouts and turnarounds.

The firm made its name doing turnaround work on companies such as Vasanta and Crown Paints and it has graduated to mid-market private equity deals.

Endless has attracted a wide range of backers since its launch in 2005, including businessmen, sports stars and Ivy League universities