Former Allegro Group boss Dermot Divilly and fellow investor Greg Lawless, together with the management, have bought the Arena Group, the UK's largest events services supplier, from Evenser in a deal worth £30 million (€44 million).
The Arena Group provides temporary and permanent seating, temporary structures, hospitality boxes and temporary support systems for the sports, exhibition and music markets.
It supplies events such as Wimbledon, Ascot, Aintree and Cheltenham horse racing, PGA and Ryder Cup golf, the British Grand Prix as well as concerts and exhibitions. With major events such as the Olympics taking place in Britain over the coming years, the sector would be a major growth area, Mr Divilly said.
The purchase of the Arena Group is the sixth transaction carried out by the Divilly-Lawless partnership in the past two years.
The other companies controlled by the partnership in Ireland are Hireall Ltd, Cater Hire Ltd and Irish Merchants Ltd, the non-food supplier to the catering and hospitality industries which was purchased in 2005 for €20 million.
In Britain they own Spaceworks Ltd, Well Dressed Tables Ltd and the JHS business, all involved in the events services.
"There is a great synergies between the group of businesses," he added. "We can provide a one-stop shop to any major event."
The finance for the promoters of the Arena deal was carried out by Gaitsford Investments, which is headed by Mr Lawless and which has been involved in all of the transactions to date.
Mr Divilly and Mr Lawless have been in business together for 15 years and have completed more than 20 acquisitions and disposals. They led a management buyout of another catering-related business, the Allegro Group, in 1993, when Mr Divilly was managing director and Mr Lawless was financial controller.
Mr Divilly bought Roma Foods from Allegro in 1999 and sold it to IAWS in 2002. He also sold Allegro Professional to Bunzyl in 2001.
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