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The company that produces half the UK’s salt is back under British ownership after it was bought by its management.

British Salt, which produces almost 500,000 tonnes of the mineral each year, has been bought for £100 million by a team led by managing director Rob Jones.

The company was sold by Salt Holdings, which is backed by American investment firm Wachovia Capital Partners.

The deal was completed with the backing of private equity firm Lloyds Development Capital (LDC). The firm invested £34.5 million for a majority shareholding.

Jones said to secure the backing of an experienced investor like LDC is an excellent outcome for the business.

“They share our vision for future growth and will be an essential partner in making that a reality,” he added. “The move enables us to drive the business forward with far greater focus and certainty, consolidating our position as the UK’s number one salt producer. What will remain however is our commitment to quality which has made the business the success story it is today.

“This is the start of another exciting journey for British Salt and we want everyone – our customers and our employees – to join us on that journey,” he said.

Post-completion, Carl Wormald and Andy Ball, LDC’s director and regional managing director respectively, join British Salt’s board as non-executive directors.

Wormald said since he first met Jones and his team he has been impressed by the company. “This is a well invested business with a highly experienced management team in a robust sector. More importantly, we see the longer term potential growth from new added value applications both in the UK and overseas and are keen to work alongside management to deliver the upside.”

The debt was arranged by the acquisition finance division of Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets and HSBC.

Lloyds TSB’s debt was co-ordinated by Mark Blower and Iain Ashworth in its Manchester acquisition finance team.

“With more than 200 years of salt reserves to exploit, the business is well placed to capitalise on the new opportunities presented by the rapid growth of a number of markets for its products,” Blower said.

British Salt’s management was advised by Jeff Barber, a partner at McInnes Corporate Finance, while LDC was supported by Paul Lupton and Aziz UlHaq of Deloitte and Neal Shepherd of DLA Piper.

Barber, who was supported by senior manager, Martin Kennedy, said: “The deal has taken a number of months to pull together with certain structural issues needing to be resolved.

“However this is a very experienced and focused management team who I am confident with the support and financial backing of LDC, will deliver significant growth in this business over the coming years,” he added.

Based in Middlewich, Cheshire, British Salt produces a wide variety of specialist salt products for UK and international markets, from food processing to the production of chemicals such as chlorine.

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