Contract signed: Evolve buys Poolrite
Evolve Supply Chain Pty Ltd has executed a contract to buy the assets of Poolrite Australia.
The deal was brokered by Evolve managing director Ty Hermans and Marcus Salouk from Scancorp Business Advisors with an anticipated settlement of late July.
SPLASH! understands the Poolrite Liquidators Committee (formerly known as the Creditors Committee) unanimously approved the deal, and that the contract was signed on June 26th with a 21 day finance clause.
Full details of the sale price and terms are confidential until settlement, but Evolve has confirmed that a sale contract has been executed with administrators SV Partners, and the deal is “one hundred per cent ready to go.”
Evolve plans to have their full range of Poolrite products ready for summer, as well as their new value mineral product, Element Minerals, which is compatible with the Magnapool system.
“It’s great for all involved to have some certainty now. Our Poolrite production has been dormant since April 19, but now we can gear up for summer,” says Hermans. “We always wanted to build the brand and build Australian production. We’ll make sure the Poolrite range has a future.”
The Poolrite range produced by Evolve to be ready for summer includes pumps, filters, chlorinators, skimmers, pre-plumb fittings amongst other items.
Once one of Australia's biggest pool companies
Poolrite was one of Australia’s largest and oldest manufacturers of pool and spa equipment. It was founded by Peter Wolpert in Sydney’s western suburbs in 1978. In 1993 it became part of the listed company GWA Group, along with Caroma, Sebel and Rover. In 1999 Poolrite was purchased by Ross Palmer’s Palmer Group from GWA and relocated its manufacturing from Sydney to Brisbane in 2002. Around 2006 Palmer became more actively involved in running the company. At one time, the company had annual sales of around $30 million.
Poolrite went into administration in late 2012.
There had been a number of potential scenarios to purchase the company's assets, including acquisition by AstralPool Australia, investment by ex-staff and a DOCA proposed by Evolve. In March, the DOCA proposal was rejected by creditors in favour of sale to AstralPool. In June, the AstralPool bid fell through and now Evolve has succeeded in progressing further with purchase than any other player. Certainly, Evolve is extremely confident that the deal will proceed to settlement in late July.
Hermans says the Evolve team is exhilarated to have secured this addition to their business, after an extended bidding process, and coming out ahead of the major international players in the pool industry.
“Evolve first looked at the pool industry many years ago,” says Hermans. “We knew this was an industry we could bring our manufacturing, R&D, sales and marketing experience to.
“When Poolrite Australia encountered difficulties, we believed we could assist. As such in October 2012, Evolve licensed the rights to manufacture, distribute, market and sell the Poolrite range of products. We were simply focused on getting some great products back onto the market, and ensuring the customer base had access to the products they wanted.”
In March this year a meeting of creditors voted to liquidate Poolrite Australia and sell the assets to AstralPool Australia, rejecting the DOCA proposed by Evolve. Since then AstralPool and the voluntary administrator for Poolrite were not able to execute the sale of the company assets and the deal fell through. Evolve and the administrators executed a contract for purchase on June 26.
“We see the acquisition of the Poolrite assets as delivering us several potentially distinct businesses including minerals, spare parts, pumps and skimmers,” he says.
“We have made no secret of our long term goal to play in the pool industry, and acquiring the assets of Poolrite makes it that much more viable.
“Our own brand Element was to be released into the market for the Australian summer, but we have brought forward our first product for immediate launch – Element Minerals – a low cost magnesium mineral alternative to Magnapool’s legendary magnesium mineral blend. The Element Mineral range is simply something the market was desperately looking for and we will make this a reality this month.
“In any case, Poolrite is now in the hands of Evolve and we look forward to providing further updates and ensuring the continued supply of this great range of Aussie made products,” he says.
SPLASH! will update this story as more comes to hand.
Keep informed with the free SPLASH! newsletter or follow SPLASH! on social media:Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.
