Declan Ryan and Kevin Warren back Broderick’s €3m buyout from BDO fund

The Dublin-based Broderick family has raised about €3 million to buy back their eponymous biscuit business from BDO's Development Capital, with funding from corporate financier Kevin Warren, Declan Ryan's Irelandia Investments and accountant Pat Burke, who is a director of the Mercantile pub group.

The family has in recent days retaken full control of Ina’s Kitchen Desserts, which trades as Broderick’s, after concluding a deal to buy back the 75 per cent it did not own. It brings to an end a fractious period for the business, following a series of disputes between BDO's Development Capital and the family.

It also crystallises a loss after four years for the BDO fund of more than 50 per cent on its total investment, which accounts suggest was about €6.35 million.

It is understood that the bulk of the finance for the deal has come from Warren Private, the investment house founded by former Revenue tax inspector Mr Warren. Minutedale, a company linked to Warren Private, provided funding to a family company secured on a number of residential properties in south Dublin owned by the Broderick's founders.

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Debt financing

Irelandia, which mainly invests in aviation – Mr Ryan is the son of the late Ryanair founder Tony Ryan – is believed to have provided debt financing for the Broderick's buyout of close to €1 million. A smaller sum was raised by Mr Burke, who is a financial adviser to the family, while a handful of equity investors also stumped up for the deal.

Broderick’s, which supplies biscuits and desserts to retailers across Ireland, Britain and Europe, employs almost 100 staff and has sales of more than €13 million annually. Most of the current value of the group is tied up in its property assets, on which the buyout has been secured.

Dispute

Barry Broderick, who was previously sacked from the company in a dispute with the BDO fund, returns as joint managing director, almost a year after he unsuccessfully petitioned to have the business placed into examinership. The family said it has “exciting plans” to grow the business.

BDO's Development Capital, which took majority control of the business in 2019 after converting loan notes into equity, wished the family well. It highlighted that export sales and total revenues at Broderick’s grew substantially and the company invested in a new factory on its watch. The fund’s previous successful exits have included Lifes2Good, which was sold for €150 million in 2017.