Buyout at Greyhound Box & Packaging aims for £4m turnover

Leeds-based Greyhound Box and Packaging is under new ownership, following a Management Buyout on 3 July, led by Louise O’Brien, who is now the new Managing Director.

The deal, which is for an undisclosed amount, sees O’Brien take over the reins from founder Ian Jenner, who started the business in 1991.

O’Brien, who joined as a return to work mum in October 2003, worked her way through the ranks to take up the General Manager position in 2007.

Peter Hindle-Marsh at Spadina Capital provided advice and transaction management for the deal, along with Richard Hunt of Squires Patton Boggs acting for the vendor and Nigel Hoyle at Blacks for the buyer.

Greyhound, which employs 30 people, designs and manufactures corrugated cardboard packaging solutions for clients across a range of industries which include retail, pharmaceuticals, plastics, agriculture and beauty.

Over the next year, Greyhound is aiming to increase turnover from £3.5m to £4m, which will be spearheaded by the company’s product innovation, new customers and expansion of its sales team.

Throughout her 12 years with the business, O’Brien used her keen interest in systems and processes to deploy lean manufacturing across the entire business, from back office quotes to manufacturing and dispatch to provide Greyhound’s clients with reactive, fast turn-around of orders using just in time principles.

O’Brien also had a significant part in the company achieving BS EN ISO9001 and BS EN 14001 Accreditation, and Gold Standard Investors in People status.

Commenting on the takeover, O’Brien said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working for Ian and am grateful for the support and opportunities he has given me. Looking to the future, our people and customers will continue to come first, and we will be looking at how we can further differentiate and offer something a bit different from other packaging suppliers.

“Our in-house design team are already devising new innovative uses for corrugated cardboard and we’ll be looking to further strengthen our environmental credentials and target new customers with the addition of Forestry Stewardship Certification and Bulk Distribution Carton Metrics approval later this year.”

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