Grafton Group completes €91.5m Isero acquisition

Builders' merchant and DIY group Grafton has completed the €91.5 million acquisition of the Dutch tool distributor Isero, which was announced late last month.

The acquisition it the group's largest to date in continental Europe.

Isero is a specialist distributor of tools and fixings in the Netherlands, and trades from 38 branches under the Gerritse, Breur Ceintuurbaan and Van der Winkel brands.

Grafton Group has paid H2 Equity Partners, the majority shareholder in Isero, private individuals and management who have a small shareholding in the company, a consideration of € 91.5 million, including the refinancing of assumed debt.

Isero reported revenue of € 94 million and reported adjusted earnings (EBITDA) of € 10 million and adjusted operating profit of € 8.8 million for the year to June 30th 2015.

Grafton, which owns the Woodies brand, last week reported a rise in revenues to £1.87 billion (€2.64 billion) for the ten months to October 31.

It said it would be issuing a trading update for the first half of fiscal 2016 on January 12th 2016 with final results for the year ending December 2015 to be announced on March 8th next.