Cripps advise Paris-headquartered Manutan on its acquisition of Findel

Cripps advise Paris-headquartered Manutan on its acquisition of Findel, a leading supplier of educational resources to the UK.

Manutan, which specialises in educational supplies, employs 2,200 people and operates 28 subsidiaries across 17 European countries, including the UK. The business offers in excess of 800,000 products to its customers and has a turnover of €946m. The company’s mission is ‘enterprising for a better world.’

Findel is widely recognised as a market leader within UK educational resources supplies. Findel’s origins as an educational resources’ supplier can be traced back to 1817. Today, the company’s brands and websites offer more than 32,000 products to educators and parents based in the UK and overseas with the business exporting to 130 countries.

Headquartered in Hyde, Greater Manchester, Findel also has a distribution centre and offices in Nottingham and employs around 300 people. The company’s brands comprise Hope, GLS, Davies Sports, Philip Harris, and EuHu.

By joining forces, this acquisition will leverage their combined strengths in both the UK and international educational supplies sectors.

Cripps advised on all legal aspects of this substantial cross border acquisition, working closely with the team at Manutan and PWC (financial and tax advisors to Manutan). The Cripps’ team advising on the acquisition was led by Olivier Morel  and John Kirkwood and also included Kate Sun, Esther Omojola, and Victoria Baxter (corporate and banking), Phil Bilney, Jasprit Kaur, (commercial, data protection and IP),  Summer Gibb  and Rachel Holdaway (real estate), Holly Milne-Peasey and Emma Saunders (employment).

Commenting on the deal, owner and Chairman of Manutan Group, Xavier Guichard, said:

“Following on from our strong growth in recent years, we’re delighted to be acquiring Findel, whose culture, focus on people, performance and shared values, is totally aligned with our own principles. We also share the same business model, which combines the strengths of digital technology (our e-commerce solutions) with a strong focus on sustainability, providing service excellence to customers and suppliers.”

Delphine Delvert-Montigny, Manutan Group General Counsel said:

“We returned to Cripps for this strategic acquisition. We value their ability to deliver complex solutions in Franco-British deals with efficiency and pragmatism.”

Olivier Morel commented:

“We are delighted to have assisted long-standing client Manutan on this groundbreaking and complex UK transaction. This was a very enjoyable deal to work on and we are excited to see the leadership team carry on leading the business successfully forward, both in the UK and Europe.”