On Friday April 11, Gresham, the UK-based private equity specialist, announced that it had exchanged contracts to back a management buyout of Johnson Clothing Limited (JCL) led by Simon Hughes, JCL chief executive.
Under the proposed management-buyout JCL will be renamed Dimensions Clothing and is made up of five companies – Dimensions, DCC, Boyd Cooper, Wessex Textiles and Yaffy.
Johnson Service Group has also agreed new medium-term debt facilities with its existing banks. If shareholders do not approve the proposed disposal, this will trigger an event of default under the new facilities.
Simon Sherrard, chairman of Johnson Service Group, said: “This refinancing and the sale of Johnson Clothing Limited are both major steps in securing financial stability for the Group, thus allowing us to optimise the potential of our other market leading businesses, which are continuing to trade satisfactorily.”
