PwC Corporate Finance advises Village Bakery on the sale of a minority stake to Limerston Capital.

PwC’s Corporate Finance team have acted as lead financial adviser to Village Bakery on the sale of a minority stake to Limerston Capital.

Village Bakery is a producer of high quality, authentic baked goods. It specialises in premium private label products across a range of gluten free and traditional categories, including rolls, scones, bagels and morning goods.

Since the 1960s, the Jones Family have grown the group from a regional bakery to the number one supplier of private label baked goods to the UK’s national grocers and retailers, including M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrison’s and Co-op. Its recent successes have been underpinned by Village Bakery’s continual investment into product innovation and the highest quality equipment, combined with exceptional service levels.

This investment by Limerston comes 560 days after a devastating fire at the Village Bakery’s head office and principal bakery in August 2019 which destroyed approximately a third of its production capacity, suspending a previous sale process. The resilience shown by Village Bakery, its management and wider team enhanced the company’s reputation in the market and strengthened its relationship with its customers. Alternative supply arrangements were arranged within hours of the incident and work on construction of replacement facilities commenced within weeks of the fire.

A new main bakery, head office and innovation centre is on track to open in Summer 2021 which will drive significant growth from current levels of approximately £55 million per annum. The investment from Limerston Capital will help to support Village Bakery through this next phase of commercial growth and expansion.

PwC Corporate Finance team has a long-established relationship with Village Bakery and the Jones Family through Managing Director, Robin Jones and Projects Director, Christien Jones, witnessing the impressive growth story of the business.

The PwC team advising on the deal was led by Daniel Gallagher with the team comprising Richard Baty, Liz Claridge and Jose San Juan. Sector input was provided by Tom Copeland in the UK and Onno de Groot in the Netherlands.

PwC also provided financial due diligence and tax structuring advice in connection with the deal.

Robin Jones: Managing Director at Village Bakery commented:

“We selected PwC Corporate Finance because they understood our business, our market and most importantly they understood our objectives as a family and the importance of finding the right investor and partner for the business.

From the outset, they were fantastic in demonstrating the deep understanding of the business, and how technology could be used to better articulate the nuances of Village Bakery’s sales.
  Both in the period after the fire, and during the process, the ability to call on PwC’s expertise from a number of different areas of PwC was invaluable to use, both across their Tax and Deals teams.

Each PwC team member was professional, enthusiastic and maintained a sense of humour throughout! It has been a pleasure working with them over the years and the relationship we have built with them has helped us navigate the transaction and deliver a highly successful outcome.”

James Paget, founding partner of Limerston Capital added:

“The resilience of the staff and management and the commendable commitment of key customers in the aftermath of the fire evidenced Village Bakery as a brand of genuine quality in an exceptionally competitive sector.
“We are delighted to partner with Robin and Christien Jones and will be supporting them as they continue to invest in Wrexham, recruit more people locally and establish Village Bakery as a centre of baking excellence and innovation.”