A Somerset warehousing and distribution business has been acquired by a European cold storage firm. J R Harding & Sons has been bought by Dutch company CubeCold Europe for an undisclosed sum.
Founded in 1963, J R Harding & Sons operates a 17,000 pallet, temperature-controlled warehouse on the Marston Trading Estate in Frome. The company has a fleet of 11 transport units and runs a truck maintenance business on its 4.3 acre property.
Like this story? Why not sign up to get the latest South West business news straight to your inbox.
Rotterdam-based CubeCold acquires and develops small to medium-sized cold storage facilities, and has a portfolio of around 270,000 pallets across its Europe-wide assets. The deal marks an expansion of CubeCold’s operations, with the firm recently acquiring Reading-based Pulleyn Transport. CubeCold said its purchase of J R Harding & Son would provide an opportunity to develop a new cold store facility “in the near future”.
CubeCold Europe’s chief executive Gerben Paauwe said: “This acquisition is an excellent strategic fit that strengthens our position in the Ƶ. J R Harding & Sons’ reputation and customer relationships complement our own and together we can provide even greater value to customers through an integrated network.”
The Midlands-based corporate finance team of national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm Crowe Ƶ advised CubeCold on the deal.
Andy Kay, partner and head of corporate finance in the Midlands and South West, said: “This cross-border deal follows hot-on-the-heels of a number of other international transactions in which we have played a leading role, most notably the recent multi-million pound sale of a Ƶ / Middle Eastern-based specialist manufacturer to a North American buyer, giving the buyer a major foothold in territories in which it did not have a presence.
“We are anticipating continued overseas interest in Ƶ-based businesses who are looking at their exit plans, particularly in those businesses that are well-run, have a particular niche and are generally resilient.”
Law firm DWF, led by Alexis Karim, acted for CubeCold, and J R Harding & Sons were advised by Temple Bright on the legal side and Monahans on the financial side.
