“We are delighted to receive this investment from MML Ireland. They rapidly grasped the future potential of the business and, importantly, the management team felt very comfortable working with them from the start of the process. MML Ireland has a strong track record of partnering with thriving businesses and supporting their growth ambitions therefore I am very confident that we can accelerate our development into new regions and new rental markets globally.”

Rodney Lowry, CEO, Lowe Rental
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Lowe Rental

lowerental.com
Realignment of the shareholder base, exiting the private non-executive shareholders and partial divestment for other shareholders. Significant growth capital investment into the asset base for further international organic expansion.

The business

Lowe Rental is the global market leader in the provision of specialist refrigeration rental equipment.

The deal

Lowe Rental was founded in 1977 and specialised in providing display refrigeration to large international food exhibitions. In 2008, the business was acquired by the current CEO, Rodney Lowry, with the support of private non-executive shareholders. Under Rodney’s stewardship, Lowe diversified from a sole focus on exhibitions, initially moving into the events and subsequently the retail market. Rodney believed there were significant growth opportunities developing the event and retail markets combined with geographic expansion and product diversification and sought a partner to assist him in taking the business to the next level. Over time we built a relationship with Rodney and invested for a majority stake, providing an exit for private non-executive shareholders and partial divestment for other shareholders. At the same time, we led the refinancing and consolidation of existing debt facilities and created an equity pot and incentive plan for second tier management positioning the business for growth.

The exit

Lowe Rental was a business with a highly motivated, engaged management team with significant industry experience. It was MML Ireland’s first investment and we sought to support the team by putting in place the right structures and processes to allow the business to scale further. MML Ireland supported significant capex purchases of new equipment to further develop the asset base and facilitate the growth of the business, invested in and rolled out an integrated group wide ERP and asset management system, recruited additional resource and supported the further geographic expansion of the company. During its investment period of just under 4 years the business achieved significant organic growth with EBITDA more than trebling in that period. In March 2018, MML Ireland successfully exited the business via a secondary buyout to Perwyn, the UK based evergreen family investment fund.
Fund
MML Ireland Fund I
Region
Northern Ireland
Deal Status
Realised
Sector
Business Services

Related news

MML Ireland exits its investment in Lowe
MML Ireland has exited its investment in Lowe Rental through a sale of the Company to management and Perwyn, the UK based evergreen family investment fund, for c.£60m. The exit is MML Ireland’s first from its €125m fund.
MML Ireland completes first investment, backing Lowe Refrigeration
MML Ireland is proud to announce they have completed their first deal by investing in Northern Irish based global refrigeration rental company Lowe Refrigeration.

Associated deal team

Rory Quirke

Partner and Co-Head of Investments

Shane Cooke

Investment Director
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