A Travers Smith team lead by Paul Dolman has advised the shareholders of IronmongeryDirect Limited on the sale of the business to Paris-based Manutan Group.

Based in Essex, IronmongeryDirect was founded in 1969 as a traditional ironmonger's shop, and has since grown to become the UK's largest specialist distributor of ironmongery for the trade, offering over 14,000 in-stock items ready for next day delivery throughout the UK. Over the last five years IronmongeryDirect has achieved compound growth of over 20% per year to £18 million of sales in the year ended 31 December 2012.

The Manutan Group is a leading player in the European multi-channel distribution market for businesses and local authorities. The group operates in 19 European countries through 22 subsidiaries. In 2011/2012, the Manutan Group generated revenue of €571 million, of which 40% was achieved outside France.

The Travers Smith team also included tax partner Russell Warren, corporate associate Matthew Kichenside and tax associate Richard Wild.

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