Partner Article

FT Leisure makes a splash with MBO

Bredbury-based, swimming pool engineers, FT Leisure, has been bought by its management team in a deal, for an undisclosed sum, led by two of the founding directors Simon Whittingham and Martin Elvin.

The company is a provider of products and technical services for the commercial, municipal and private swimming pool industries.

Founded in 2003, the company has grown rapidly over the last five years with turnover quadrupling to £8m.

Employee numbers have grown to 52.

Mr Whittingham said “The government has invested heavily in promoting health and wellbeing and there has been a huge push by local councils across the UK to improve sports and leisure facilities.

“There are around 8,000 public swimming pools in the UK and, following the management buyout, the company is now in an excellent position to further capitalise on this trend and cement its market leading position in the UK and also to tap into growing opportunities in the international market.”

Manchester law firm Pannone Corporate and accountants and business advisors Beever and Struthers advised FT Leisure on the deal.

Partner Mark Winthorpe led the corporate team which included Steven Grant, Katie Ward and Richard Cowan while the team at Beever and Struthers was led by managing partner Phil Roberts and included partners John Jones and Paul Shaw and executive Lee Rogers.

Pannone corporate chairman Steven Grant said: “We are delighted to advise the directors at FT Leisure on the management buyout.

“The company has firmly established itself as the leading provider of products and technical services in the swimming pool industry and the deal provides Simon and Martin with an ideal platform from which to achieve their ambitious growth plans.”

Managing partner at Manchester-based Beever and Struthers, Phil Roberts, said: “FT Leisure is a local and national success story with ambitious plans to compete on an international level.

“We were really impressed by Simon and Martin right from our initial meetings.

“They had a clear vision of where they wanted to take the business and we were delighted to help them achieve that, working closely together through the entire MBO process.

“We look forward to working with them going forward.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .