The client’s request

Pompadour Laboratories Limited, the region’s leading supplier to the hairdressing and beauty trade, approached our corporate finance team to advise on the sale of their business. Formed over 60 years ago, Pompadour was owned and run by brothers Adrian and Julian Barron. The hair and beauty trade is a tight-knit sector with a few national players and a number of strong regional businesses such as Pompadour, mostly family owned and therefore rarely available to acquire.

How we helped

We advised on a two-stage marketing process. An initial survey was conducted to identify potential buyers with the necessary resources to finance a deal, and then these potential acquirers were contacted to elicit their appetite for deals. This ruled out a number of potential buyers and meant that in stage two only a handful of real, able and motivated buyers were actually contacted.

With only a handful of real buyers in the process, we provided comprehensive information, under strict confidentiality agreements, and spoke at length to them to develop a deep understanding of their deal drivers.

Indicative offers were obtained and assessed, and as a result of the careful groundwork, heads of agreement were signed very quickly with Capital (Hair and Beauty) Limited (CHB), a family-owned business based on the south coast.

Working very closely with the buyer, and building on the working relationship established during earlier phases, we moved the deal through the usual diligence and legal processes. We helped the Barrons through this complex and detailed phase, ensuring that information was readily available in a form that could be easily assimilated by the buyer and their advisers. Careful management of the diligence process meant that the buyer found no nasty surprises and the deal was able to progress to completion as agreed in the heads.

“We’ve not been through a sale before, so having highly experienced advisers was very important to us. Chris Taylor understood the great sensitivity of a family selling their long-owned business and ensured the buyer had the right fit, as well as the ability and resources to get the deal done.” Adrian and Julian Barron

The result

Following completion and after a brief handover period, CHB have taken management control of Pompadour, but the business continues to trade under its unique and local brand, as part of the CHB family business.