Management buyout at Tilley & Barrett

A management buyout has seen the UK's McNicholas plc sell its demolition contractor subsidiary Tilley & Barrett to current managing director Paul Brown. Tilley & Barrett started out in 1951 as a family–owned business and was acquired by McNicholas some 30 years ago.

Paul Brown joined McNicholas four years ago to oversea Tilley & Barrett's demolition activities. In a statement, he said: “Tilley & Barrett started life as a relatively small, family type of company and those family values of honesty, integrity and attention to detail have remained in place to this day. However, when McNicholas was acquired by Skanska [at the end of 2006], it became apparent that demolition was no longer considered a core activity so I seized the opportunity to buy out a well established and much–respected company.”

He was unwilling to disclose the terms of the MBO, but did tell D&Ri: “The buyout involves 100% of the company and its extensive fleet of machines and ancillary equipment. There are other individuals involved but I am the majority shareholder with 99%.”

Mr Brown has been active in the industry, and particularly in the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC), for more than 30 years.