The Liverpool Corporate team of top 45 Law Firm, Weightmans, has advised the shareholders in Portgrade Limited its sale to Johnson Service Group (JSG).

Johnson Service Group (JSG), which is headquartered in Preston Brook, has acquired the entire shareholding of Portgrade together with its trading subsidiary Afonwen Laundry for £52.6m in cash.
Weightmans Corporate Partner, Ian Vicary who, together with Matt Williamson, Haydn Rogan and Ben Davies advised the shareholders on the sale, commented:

"We are delighted that our longstanding clients the Woolfenden family have completed this deal and it has been a pleasure to have been so closely involved as their legal team. It is wonderful to see that their hard work and commitment to develop the Afonwen business has been rewarded. This was a significant deal, and our cross-discipline team managed the process extremely effectively, demonstrating how our expertise lends itself to high value deals."

Afonwen is one of the largest privately owned hotel linen rental operators, supplying more than 280 customers and servicing 65,000 bedrooms across England and Wales. It employs more than 750 staff and has a fleet of 80 commercial vehicles.

Paul Woolfenden, the majority shareholder and founder of the business said:

"We are very grateful for Weightmans, who have looked after our legal requirements for many years, for guiding us through the difficult procedure of helping us dispose of our business. The help and advice from the Corporate Team was excellent and we benefitted enormously from their experience. In all our dealings with Weightmans we have been very well supported and sincerely appreciated their help and assistance.”

Mark Woolfenden, managing director of Afonwen, added:

"We are delighted to be joining Johnson Service Group, a company which shares many of our values in delivering first-class customer service and high-quality linen products to the hospitality industry.

"With increasing consolidation in the UK textile rental market, the opportunity to scale up into a larger organisation and allow us to offer fully nationwide coverage was a huge attraction. We look forward to continued growth."

Brian McCann, Partner at Afonwen’s longstanding accountant and business advisor Mitchell Charlesworth provided Corporate Finance advice.