BBF, the UK’s leading manufacturer of own label, licensed and branded ambient cakes and desserts, has announced a new £40m financing facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance (WFCF) to support future growth plans.
BBF serves all the UK’s most recognisable food retailers such as Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, M&S, Aldi and Lidl. With manufacturing facilities in Blackburn, Bradford and Poland, BBF last year complemented the Group’s facilities with the acquisition of Greencore PLC’s ambient cake and chilled desserts division headquartered from a large, modern bakery in Hull.
As a result of the acquisition, annual Group revenues have risen to over £150m, with over 2,000 people employed over the five sites.
BBF, led by CEO Jonathan Lill, has been owned by the leading transformational private equity investor, Endless LLP, since 2015 during which time significant investment has seen strong revenue growth and new customer engagement. The new three-year financing facility not only provides day-to-day working capital for the enlarged Group but provides headroom to enable further capital investment into manufacturing facilities.
FRP Advisory in Manchester provided Debt Advisory advice to Endless and BBF.
Jonathan Lill, CEO of BBF commented, “The facility provided by Wells Fargo gives the business extra firepower to make further investment in all of our manufacturing sites and to deliver on our strategic growth plans. Wells demonstrated great appetite throughout the process to support the business and we’re excited to have secured this new funding facility.”
Tom Weedall, Director of Loan Originations, WFCF UK commented, “Leveraging Wells Fargo’s platform, we are delighted to work with BBF. This funding facility will support their future working capital and growth requirements. Also, our tailored solution will enable BBF to continue to provide the highest level of service and award-winning products to their customers.”
Andy Pickford, Director Debt Advisory at FRP Advisory in Manchester, added, “BBF is a high quality, market leading business, owned by a private equity sponsor that is at the forefront of investment into UK mid-market corporates. We are delighted to have been mandated by them to advise on this important financing.
'Pleasingly, there was significant interest from the finance community for this transaction, and the terms offered and underwritten by the team at Wells Fargo will now allow the management team at BBF to execute their exciting three-year plan.”
