French firm Saint-Gobain has agreed the sale of Graham Plumbers’ Merchant to UK Plumbing Supplies, and Wolseley, for an undisclosed sum.
UK Plumbing Supplies will acquire the majority of Graham branches, along with the Graham brand name and website domain. Wolseley will acquire a smaller number of branches.
With around 130 outlets and 840 employees, Graham generated a turnover of around €260 million in 2020.
These transactions should be finalised in the coming weeks and are part of Saint-Gobain’s strategy to continue optimising its portfolio, aimed at improving the group’s growth and profitability profile.
This deal is the latest in a number of sales and acquisitions in the plumbing merchant sector, most recently Irish based Grafton Group divesting itself of its UK holding to Huws Gray for £520m. In May of this year, Travis Perkins sold off its plumbing and heating business to HIG Capital for £325m. In January, Wolseley UK was sold by its American owners, Ferguson plc, to a private equity firm for £308m.
