RHP Bidco acquires Quinn Radiators

Investment group headed by Tony Mullins buys company from Aventas for €25m

Seán Quinn: in 2004 he trumped Tony Mullins’s €70million bid to take Barlo private with an €84 million offer. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Seán Quinn: in 2004 he trumped Tony Mullins’s €70million bid to take Barlo private with an €84 million offer. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Irish-owned investment group RHP Bidco, which is headed by former Barlo chief executive Tony Mullins, has acquired Quinn Radiators for €25 million.

RHP Bidco acquired the company from Aventas, the vehicle that until recently owned most of the old Quinn family group’s manufacturing business.

Quinn Radiators has its manufacturing plant in Newport, Wales, which employs 290 people as well an operation in Belgium with 21 staff and in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh which has 16 employees.

RHP Bidco is chaired by Tony Mullins with Brian Beausang and David Kerr as directors. Mr Kerr, who previously ran Barlo's UK radiator business and various business units for Kingspan, will become chief executive of Quinn Radiators.

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“We are very pleased to have completed this transaction and look forward to working with staff and suppliers to ensure we continue to provide excellent service to our customers with a top quality product,” said Mr Kerr.

Paul O'Brien, chief executive of Aventas, said: "This sale of Quinn Radiators is a first step in realising value for Aventas Group investors. We are pleased to have sold our radiators business to RHP Bidco Limited and we wish Tony Mullins and his team every success in the future development of this business," he added.

In 2004, Seán Quinn trumped Mr Mullins’s €70 million bid to take Barlo private with an €84 million offer. Since then Mr Mullins’ main investment interest has been in a UK-based geothermal heat pump business.

RHP Bidco has structured the acquisition conservatively with finance from Wells Fargo, the American bank. The company sees the acquisition as a long-term investment and its immediate focus is to return the business to profitability. It is understood to be committed to an operation in Derrylin.

In September, the Quinn Business Retention Company, whose backers include of some of the group’s former executives, agreed to buy the old Quinn Group’s construction supplies division and its packaging business.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist