SODEXHO of France has seized one of the plums of the British catering
industry with the agreed purchase of Gardner Merchant for #730m
including #180m of debt. It will form the world's largest catering
group.
Gardner, under chief executive Garry Hawkes and finance director Iain
Carslaw, was the subject of a management buyout from Forte in December
1992 -- the hotels group still retains a 24.8% stake -- and was backed
by CinVen and a consortium of banks including the Royal Bank of
Scotland.
It polished itself up in the summer months of last year for flotation
with a possible value of about #750m. However, changing market
conditions and approaches from trade purchasers led to the idea being
placed on ice.
Interested parties included Granada whose chief executive Gerry
Robinson had been hired from Gardner's arch competitor Compass and so
had an intimate knowledge and understanding of the Gardner businesses.
Granada already has a catering arm Sutcliffe but that is comparatively
insignificant when compared with Gardner's annualised turnover of around
#1200m.
Sodexho is one of the world's largest catering groups and looked at
Gardner as a takeover possibility in 1992. It intends running the
British company as a separate entity.
Gardner employs 55,000 people worldwide in 20 countries with around
30,000 in the UK.
In the half year to July, it achieved sales of #556m and pre-interest
profits of #26.9m.
Its Scottish operations include regional offices in Aberdeen,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Paisley. Gardner's Kelvin subsidiary supplies
the North Sea oil industry and the armed services in the Falklands. The
leisure division includes brand names such as Town and County and Ring
and Brymer.
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