Ellisons Solicitors has acted for new clients, the individual shareholders of Orwell Trucks Limited led by David Grant, on the sale of Orwell Truck & Van to South African based automotive group Imperial Holdings.
Orwell Truck & Van, a 64 million turnover business, is one of Britain’s most successful Mercedes-Benz dealerships with four branches across East Anglia, 190 employees and a long-standing well respected management team. Orwell is also listed in the Top100 companies in East Anglia.
The buyer, South African based Imperial Holdings, is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange and employs more than 46,000 people worldwide. Imperial already operates one of the largest commercial vehicle dealer groups in the UK with DAF, MAN, Ford, VW, Fiat and Hino franchises; this is their first Mercedes-Benz franchise in the UK.
The Ellisons team in this transaction was led by Corporate Solicitor Paul Forsyth. He said “We wish Orwell Truck & Van every success going forward and have been delighted to have been involved in this significant deal.”
Press coverage of the transaction can be found here.
David Grant added: ‘‘Taking feedback from other local businessmen, Orwell had selected Ellisons to act in preference to their existing legal advisors; this had proved to be an excellent decision, with Paul and his team providing sound, pragmatic and commercial advice on all aspects of the sale process, whilst at the same time maintaining the impetus required to bring about a swift completion to the whole transaction.’’
Ellisons corporate team continues to advise on high value transactions and is highly regarded in the Legal 500 and Chambers directories.