Testing firm YorkTest in £8.6m MBO deal

Bosses at food tolerance testing company YorkTest Laboratories have teamed up with private equity house Key Capital Partners (KCP) to bring forward an £8.6m management buyout at the firm.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Jul 2017, 18:11 BST
Updated 11th Sep 2017, 13:06 BST

The deal sees CBPE Capital sell 100 per cent of its stake in the business, which trades as YorkTest and Lorisian.

The deal sees Leeds-based KCP acquire a majority stake in the business for an investment of over £8m, backing the incumbent management team of Rachel Jansen, chief executive; Neil Guilder, chief fiancial officer; Dr Gill Hart, scientific director; and Jonathan Brookes, operations director.

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James Hall, partner at KCP, who led the investment team alongside Seb Wilkinson, will join the board of YorkTest.

YorkTest is the UK market leader in food intolerance testing.

Mr Hall said: “This is a long-established business with a proven track-record and reputation for quality in the food intolerance testing market, and we see huge potential for growth both directly to consumers as well as continued expansion into the business to business channel.”

Ms Jansen said: “We were looking for a partner to help us continue to build on the brand equity, continue to add complementary products and scale up to take advantage of the market opportunity in front of us, on a global basis.

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“KCP see the same opportunities that we do, they bought into our customer engagement programme and fully supported our plans to grow and develop the business and provide food intolerance sufferers with a well-established, proven solution.”