Complete Poolrite business now up for sale

While expressions of interest were requested in June this year to identify joint venture partners and equity investors for the Poolrite business, Evolve is now offering the entire business for sale.

Scan Capital Pty Ltd has been retained by the Evolve Group to manage the sale of the Poolrite business and assets, and says that given the level of interest and to enable their client to focus on its core business, the Evolve Group has decided to offer all of Poolrite’s assets for immediate sale.

Poolrite is presented for sale for offers over $2.5 million plus stock with a targeted contract date of 30 November and settlement in December 2018.

Evolve focussing on core business

Evolve Group managing director Ty Hermans say he is extremely passionate about Poolrite’s future opportunities but has several competing priorities and needs to focus on his core business of plastic and composites manufacturing which is growing at a very rapid pace.

“My initial intention with Poolrite was to invite a strategic investor to work alongside me to continue to grow the brand,” says Hermans.

“This was as much about allowing me to focus on my core business as it was about the cash.

“We received strong interest from the first round of the campaign but it wasn’t what we had planned. The investors who expressed interest were less strategic and hands-on than we expected – they were financial investors who liked Poolrite’s cashflow and potential but wanted me to continue to run the business, which wasn’t my objective.”

Hermans says they also had substantial interest from industry players who wanted to purchase Poolrite outright and didn’t need him to be involved at all.

“Given the interest we had for an outright sale I’ve decided to offer Poolrite for sale. This will mean that I will be reluctantly stepping out of the pool industry, but it will allow me to focus on my core business which is where my real passion lies in product development and manufacturing since 2006.

“I expect the successful buyer will grow Poolrite into a major national and possibly international brand which I’m genuinely excited to see occur.”

Evolve recently settled a patent dispute with Zodiac relating to the formulation of the Revive mineral pool product, with the result being Poolrite is still able to offer mineral pool products to the market with a new formula.

Scope of sale

Scan Capital has provided the following information on the sale.

Poolrite manufactures and distributes the following range of swimming pool products to distributors, pool builders, retailers and pool owners: pool pumps, filters, chlorinators, skimmer boxes, lights, filtration media, minerals and spare parts.

Poolrite owns an extensive range of Intellectual Property including patents, licenses and trademarks for its products. The entire Poolrite range is currently manufactured in Australia but can be relocated at the acquirer's discretion.

Investment highlights

Investment in Poolrite includes:

• All established products within the Poolrite product family - representing over 40 years of development

• Product development pipeline including a suite of products ready for imminent commercialisation - including VSD pumps and a complete chlorinator range

• All Intellectual Property associated with the Poolrite products

• All tooling and associated equipment

• Customer databases and the existing revenue stream from Australia and New Zealand with potential for international revenues.

Poolrite offers several compelling investment benefits:

• Revive - Balanced Multi-Minerals: Poolrite is one of few companies in Australia with the legal and intellectual property rights to distribute pool minerals

• Successful product range: Poolrite's recently launched products such as the 'innoSkim' skimmer box are winning significant market share and supplementing its trusted range of pumps, filters and spare parts

• Extensive tooling: Poolrite has an extensive array of tooling across its broad product range, in good working condition and likely to be sold well below replacement cost

• Established Brand: inter-generational brand recognition, established for 40-years with an excellent reputation for reliability

• On-line Presence: potential opportunity for an Industry Participant with small or no on-line presence to introduce a trusted brand without compromising their existing channel sales

• IP Protection: various forms of IP protection including design registrations, patents, licenses, international trademarks and website domains

• Durability: reputation as one of the most reliable pool pump and filter ranges on the market with historically low levels of warranty issues

• Tangible Growth Potential: ongoing organic growth with proven range and recently commercialised product opportunities (including a new skimmer and Revive Mineral products)

Next steps

The Poolrite business and assets are offered for sale at offers over $2.5 million plus stock.

The sale process is anticipated to be completed by 30 November 2018.

To register interest in participating in the process or to obtain further information, please contact Ned Petrovic:

E: ned.petrovic@scancorp.com.au

T: +61 7 3902 2400

M: 0438 853 852 - +61 438 853 852