A bespoke staircase manufacturer based in Derby has transitioned to employee ownership.
A bespoke staircase manufacturer based in Derby has transitioned to employee ownership.
This transition is one of the first of its kind for the UK Timber Engineering sector.
Growing in size year on year since 2004, TwoTwenty design and manufacture bespoke staircases to thousands of sites across the UK.
With their mission to deliver high-quality services, TwoTwenty supply more than 5,000 staircases to the UK’s top 10 builders’ merchants every year and have won major industry awards, including Best Interior Product at the Housebuilder Product Awards, and the Innovation award at the EEF Future Manufacturing Awards.
TwoTwenty transitioned to employee ownership earlier this year by selling the entire company TwoTwenty Limited and its holding company, Elephant Holdings Limited, to its own employees.
Companies that sell their business to their employees often do so to see their hard-earned culture live on in the business. They also want the people who have worked alongside them in growing their company, to be rewarded for their contribution to its success.
The transition to employee ownership for TwoTwenty was a decision that would ensure the company would retain its cultural integrity and embedded values.
Founder of the company, Ali Wright said: “We passionately believe that our colleagues are the thing that makes TwoTwenty successful,”. “So becoming an EOT secures the perfect future for this business.”
The sale to the trust was funded by Natwest and professional advisors to transaction included Legal Clarity, Empire Finance, Browne Jacobson, Dains Accountants and Smiths Partnership.
Ali Wright said: “This transition is a first for the UK timber engineering sector and helps secure the jobs of our 40 staff members, while genuinely changing the lives of our employees and their families. Our colleagues now have a sense of ownership over the business and say the move to EOT is creating a job-for-life mentality.”
Legal Clarity, with over a decade of experience in employee ownership transitions, advised the target company on the sale to the EOT.
Ali Wright, commenting on the transaction said: “The whole team proactively worked well together and all positively communicated, I was guided through something really complex and completely new to me using easy to understand language and terminology.
Gary (Partner at Legal Clarity) and Angela (Head of Commercial Property, Banking & Finance at Legal Clarity) always treated my queries in the spirit in which they were asked, I was never made to feel stupid or out of my depth.
A huge thanks to Angela for the incredible work she did on the legal and property side, and of course to Gary Davie… who formed the trust company and made our exit plan happen. If anyone is seriously contemplating an exit via EOT, this is one talented and formidable professional team I would recommend.
Thank you so much to our staff for being awesome, and our professional advisors for making it happen.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt it's the proudest working day of my life.”
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