Contributors
Law firm Womble Bond Dickinson has advised the shareholders of Cleveland Containers on a significant minority investment deal into the company by LDC, the UK's leading mid-market private equity firm.
The successful family-owned business, which was crowned Teesside Company of the Year at the North East Business Awards last week, will work with LDC, Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity arm, to support its next stage of growth. Using the investment to drive forward its expansion plans and enhancing the sales and rental offering, which will create new jobs and opportunities for existing employees.
Cleveland Containers is led by husband and wife Johnathan and Jane Bulmer, specialising in providing shipping containers and site accommodation units for sale and for hire. After securing a number of successful contracts with national housebuilders, construction firms, high street retailers and container conversions used for hospitality projects including STACK Seaburn, the company has continued to expand and currently supplies to over 4,500 customers.
The WBD team advising Cleveland Containers was led by Partner Robert Phillips, Partner James Cook and Associate David Ridley, of the firm's Newcastle and Leeds corporate and private equity teams. The trio were supported by a multi-disciplinary team of specialists with strong experience in private equity investments.
Robert Phillips of WBD commented:
“Womble Bond Dickinson has a long-standing relationship with Cleveland Containers and LDC and we are proud to have assisted the shareholders on such an exciting move to support their future growth plans. Cleveland Containers has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and we look forward to seeing how this new partnership with LDC will continue to fuel the company’s impressive growth.”
Managing director at Cleveland Containers Johnathan Bulmer said:
“It’s been a pleasure to work with the Womble Bond Dickinson teams and in particular Robert, James and David with their extensive private equity experience. They were approachable and made their advice easy to understand throughout - this combined with their expertise gave us lots of confidence as we took this next step in the business.
"I'm really proud of everyone at Cleveland Containers. The team has worked tirelessly to cement our market leading position and with LDC's support we are now in a position to strengthen our business further. We can’t thank our advisors enough for their support to make this a reality and help us reach a really exciting point in our journey. We feel very supported to continue our growth from our base here in the North East."
Ranking in the UK's top 20 law firms, WBD provides legal expertise in its key sectors from across seven offices in the UK and 19 offices in the US. The firm has a large corporate practice in the UK advising national and international clients on a broad range of corporate transactions, particularly M&A, private equity investments, IPOs and joint ventures, as well as growth and development capital fundraisings.
