Food wholesaler acquired by UK investment business
The business is one of the UK’s largest wholesalers of foods and beverages, employing 120 staff from its 6,503m2 warehouse and distribution centre in Derby and sales office in Barnsley.
Its product range extends across 4,500 lines, selling top brands including Mars Bars, Walkers Crisps, Heinz and Nescafe delivering its products range in the UK, and exporting worldwide.
SOS Wholesale said the existing management team led by Mark Beckett and Vipin Patara would work closely with RDCP founders, Sameer Rizvi and Iryna Dubylovska, on SOS Wholesale’s future growth strategy.
Eighth acquisition
This latest deal is RDCP’s eighth acquisition in the last 18 months, following its most recent takeover of specialist communications business Intelling in October 2021. RDCP now controls $400m of investments across multiple UK sectors.
“I am looking forward to continuing to work with Vipin Patara and our management team to grow the business further, whilst retaining the family values that have made us what we are today," said Mark Beckett, managing director of SOS Wholesale. "It is very much business as usual for our staff, customers and suppliers.”
Sameer Rizvi, founder and chief executive officer of RDCP Group, called the deal 'a major milestone'. "We were extremely impressed by SOS Wholesale and their track record of success and varied customer base which includes major national retailers as well as independents," he said.
"We look forward to working closely with Mark, Vipin and their team to grow the business further and have plans to expand SOS Wholesale both organically via increased sales channels, but also by bringing bolt-on acquisitions of smaller competitors.“
Plan to grow assets to $1bn by 2025
Iryna Dubylovska, founder and chief strategy officer of RDCP Group, said the company planned to grow its assets under management to $1bn by 2025. To that end, it would keep investing in promising British businesses with a consistent and profitable trading history, committed and ambitious management teams and a defendable and dominant market position in their sectors.
Roy Farmer, corporate finance partner at Dains added: “Having built a very successful business over the past 20 years, Mark and Steven decided approximately two years ago to create a succession plan in order to facilitate their retirement. Their goal was to realise the value that they had created to date and to ensure that the business was left in the hands of a buyer who would continue to further develop the business."
"We worked closely with Mark and Steven to develop their exit plan, and as part of this process spent a considerable amount of time identifying an appropriate purchaser. RDCP’s model of being longer-term investors in businesses, backing strong incumbent management teams and retaining the stability and culture that is embedded within a business made them stand out from the more traditional private equity model, and we quickly realised the benefits of choosing RDCP as the long-term investor in SOS Wholesale."
