Historic Leeds firm Allied Glass set to grow after gaining support from global investor

An affiliate of Sun European Partners has completed the acquisition of Allied Glass for an undisclosed sum.

Headquartered in Leeds, Allied is one of the largest UK-based manufacturers of glass packaging containers for the premium spirits and food and drinks markets.

In a statement Sun European Partners said: “With two manufacturing facilities and a dedicated decoration centre in Yorkshire, Allied is focussed on the short and medium production run segment of the market which values flexibility, a collaborative approach to innovation and extremely high technical standards.

“The company continues to benefit from market trends towards premiumisation and sustainability.

“Over the last three years, the business has doubled its customer base which includes craft manufacturers and the largest blue-chip organisations in the industry and delivered sales growth of 13 per cent pa (per annum).”

Chris Carney, Principal at Sun European Partners, said: “Allied Glass is a market leader in its field with impressive technical capability and a flexible customer-focused approach that sets it apart in serving the high-growth premium segment of the spirits and drink market.

“The impressive management team have been instrumental to the success of the business to date, and we look forward to working together with Alan and his team, whilst further investing in the business to support their continued development.”

Alan Henderson, CEO of Allied Glass, added: “We are excited to be working with Sun European Partners as we look to take Allied to the next level.

“Our business is well positioned within a growing market and Sun’s deep manufacturing expertise will be invaluable as we look to deliver on our potential.”

The statement added: “ Sun European Partners has extensive experience in the manufacturing and packaging sector.

“In addition to having affiliates that owned Albéa and Coveris, two global leaders in the packaging industry, affiliates of Sun European Partners have completed more than 50 acquisitions in this sector.

Sun European Partners was supported on this transaction by Rothschild, who acted as merger and acquisition advisers.

DLA Piper acted as legal advisers and advice was also supplied by EY, Roland Berge and ERM.

Sun European Partners is a private investment advisory firm, which focuses on identifying companies’ untapped potential.

Since 1995, affiliates of Sun European Partners have invested in more than 375 companies worldwide across a range of industries and transaction structures with turnover of around €40 billion.

Sun European Partners has offices in London and affiliates with offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles and New York.

Allied Glass can trace its roots back to the latter half of the 19th century.

Its operations today are an amalgamation of Lax and Shaw, founded by Thomas Lax and John Shaw in Hunslet, Leeds, in 1891, and the Hope Glass Works of Knottingley, originally home to Gregg and Company, which dates back to 1874.

Growing numbers of Yorkshire firms are attracting interest from global investors who are looking to strengthen their portfolio.