Leeds private equity firm completes purchase of Cramlington transport and warehousing business

Leeds based private equity firm Winch & Co, which has its sights set on adding five logistics businesses to its increasing portfolio, has completed the acquisition of a North East freight operator and its 250,000 sq ft industrial estate.

The purchase of Dedicated Transport Solutions (DTS), which operates a road transport fleet from its base in Cramlington, Northumberland, comes on the back of Winch & Co’s purchase of Eclipse Distribution Solutions, a £4m transport business based in Loughborough.

Winch & Co was founded by South Yorkshire entrepreneur Nathan Winch. The business, which is based in the centre of Leeds and which has 100 full-time employees, invests in UK companies operating in FMCG, industrial and service-based industries, as well as deploying dynamic growth capital.

Nathan Winch said: “This latest acquisition takes us another step closer in our goal to purchase five transport businesses, and DTS now takes its place alongside Eclipse Distribution Solutions whom we purchased last October.

“If there’s anything the Covid pandemic taught us, it’s the importance of logistics and warehousing. Without operators such as DTS and Eclipse, the nation would have ground to a halt.

“Whilst both these businesses are based in different parts of the country – DTS in the North East and Eclipse in the Midlands - they both operate nationally, and both have on-site warehousing facilities.”

He added: “DTS has plenty of potential, and for us it’s an exciting prospect. When we acquire a business, we do so to increase its profitability via investment and different ways of working. The previous owners built a solid business, and our job is to now drive it forward and take it to its next level.”

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