Sentio has successfully completed the sale of Wolseley’s Luxembourg subsidiary Comptoir des Fers et Metaux (“CFM”) to the Van Marcke Group of Belgium. The Sentio team advising Wolseley comprised Dave Irwin, Rory Wade and Andy Miller.
Established in 1920 and acquired by Wolseley in 1999, CFM is the leading specialist distributor of sanitary ware, heating and roofing products in the Luxembourg market. However, performance at the company had suffered in recent years and it was considered non-core to Wolseley’s wider European strategy.
Sentio was appointed in June 2013 to explore a potential sale of the business and received strong interest from a wide field of trade buyers from across Europe including the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In an accelerated and highly competitive process Van Marcke ultimately emerged as the successful purchaser.
Van Marcke is a family business founded in 1929 which employs over 1,250 staff in Belgium, France, Malta, the Netherlands, the US, Switzerland and Luxembourg. It is the market leader in the specialist distribution of central heating and sanitary equipment in Belgium and one of the leading companies in this sector in Western Europe with revenues of approximately EUR400 million.
Commenting on the deal Rory Wade said: “This represents a successful outcome for Wolseley and the culmination of a highly targeted sales process which generated significant trade interest for a business which has delivered sub-optimal returns for a number of years”.
