Fox International
Liberty Corporate Finance is pleased to announce the completion of the management buyout of Fox International, (“Fox”), Europe’s largest privately owned fishing tackle company, which was backed by Mayfair Equity Partners. The investment, which values Fox at £50 million, gives Mayfair majority control of the business alongside Fox’s management team, led by its Chief Executive, David Algar.
Mayfair has acquired its stake in the company from Fox’s existing investor, Next Wave Partners (“Next Wave”), which retains a significant minority shareholding.
Based in Hainault, Essex, Fox was founded by Clifford Fox in 1964 and sells over 3,000 products in more than 30 countries. It focuses on product leadership and innovation in the supply of fishing equipment for anglers globally.
Fishing is one of the world’s biggest sports, with an estimated 350 million anglers worldwide spending £9 billion per annum. In the UK, a recent Sport England survey cited fishing as being the country’s number one sport with 2.9 million active participants, 600,000 more than play football.
Mayfair’s investment in Fox provides additional capital to help it accelerate growth in new and existing markets.
The company’s core markets today are the UK, Germany, France and The Netherlands.
David Algar, Chief Executive of Fox, commented:
"We are really pleased to have Mayfair join Next Wave as investors in Fox, and that they both share our vision for strong and sustainable growth. Fox has been an incredible success story over the years because we endeavour to understand and really meet the needs and aspirations of the specialist angler. Liberty were an outstanding partner for the management team during the deal process and employed a mixture of rigour and common sense throughout what has been a very successful transaction."
Michael McDonagh of Liberty Corporate Finance added:
"We are really pleased to have advised David and his team on this important transaction. Fox International is a one of those unheralded success stories in the UK middle market, building a respected brand in a global niche leisure market. We look forward to seeing the team continue to expand internationally with the investment and support of Mayfair Equity Partners and Next Wave.”