Cairngorm Capital merges Grant & Stone and IBMG

23 September 2021


Cairngorm Capital Partners has merged two of its builders merchants portfolio companies - Grant & Stone Group with the Independent Builders Merchant Group (IBMG).

The move, Cairngorm says, creates the largest builders’ merchant group in the South of England with 123 branches, revenues in excess of £500m and over 1,700 employees. 

The new Group extends from Cornwall to Kent and comprises builders’ merchants, electrical wholesalers, plumbers’ merchants, kitchen and bathroom showrooms, roofing merchants, a timber processing site and a dedicated ecommerce business.

At a group level, the new combined company will be known as Independent Builders Merchant Group (IBMG). However, given the strength invested in the group’s 12 brands, the existing trading names and brands will continue to be used for all customer-facing activity.

“Today’s merger is the logical outcome of a strategy that we have been advancing since our initial acquisition of each company,” said Alex Bayliss, managing director of Cairngorm Capital. 

“Both are really great businesses, each with an exceptional leadership team that has the talent and the appetite to lead an enlarged company. We are excited to see the impact they can have now they are able to collaborate.”

Cairngorm Capital acquired Parker Building Supplies in March 2018 and following three further acquisitions in 2019, plus investment to support organic growth, it has increased the scale of the business from 15 branches and revenues of £67m, to 39 branches and revenues of over £200m. 

Grant & Stone has experienced a similar trajectory through a mix of acquisition and organic growth, growing from 29 branches in the Thames Valley and revenues of £100m at the time of Cairngorm Capital’s initial investment in November 2019, to 84 branches extending from London to Cornwall, generating revenues in excess of £300m.

IBMG’s 12 brands are: Buildit, Chandlers Building Supplies, Chandlers Roofing, CRS Building Supplies, Devondale Electrical, Fairalls Builders Merchants, Grant & Stone, Parkers Building Supplies, RGB Building Supplies, Stamco Timber, Total Plumbing Supplies, and Trading Depot.