Lehvoss UK managing director, Ivan Pennington, said that the company has funds available for further acquisitions in all sectors, so it can move if the right opportunity presents itself.
Pennington said he had been monitoring Gee Lawson for a number of years and the deal took 12 months to complete. Group policy stopped him from saying how much the deal was worth; all he could say was that it was ‘significant’.
“The company is well run and has a solid market reputation both within the UK and Europe. Sales in the US market are an added bonus of the deal,” Pennington said.
Pennington confirmed that Gee Lawson will be allowed to run independently of Lehvoss UK for the foreseeable future: “I intend to keep the London office and the 34 staff – why fix something that's not broken? Both the former owners remain in place and are trusted to continue to run and grow the business with their senior management team.”
Pennington added that there was very little overlap within the Lehvoss portfolio, which he said was rare these days and was another bonus in the acquisition.
Jonathan Shorts, former owner of Gee Lawson said it was an easy decision to join the Group: “With their backing, we will be able to support and grow both our supply base and customers in helping develop sales and distribution throughout Europe and further.”
The Group already has nutritional activities in the UK, Italy, France and Germany but mostly concentrates on mineral additives (in particular Magnesium salts).
“Lehvoss UK has been the driver behind generating both a wider portfolio of products and a move to other types of nutritional raw materials to complement our already strong position in minerals,” explained Pennington. He added that the Group’s structure and investment will allow Gee Lawson to develop its sales further across Europe, specifically in markets where it hadn’t had enough resources to fully cover them.