Purchasing Polypipe

, a

based private equity investment firm, announced yesterday its investment fund, Castle Harlan Partners IV L.P (CHPIV), has acquired the

, a supplier of plastic pipe systems in the

and

. The transaction was valued at £293 million.

The company, formerly a subsidiary of IMI, is based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, UK, and has approximately 2,900 employees in 39 main facilities, most of them in the UK The company also serves niche segments of the plastic pipe and fittings markets in Germany and France.

In its last fiscal year, Polypipe had unaudited revenues of £314.6 million and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of £45.6 million. Sales in the UK account for more than 70 percent of revenues.

"There are significant opportunities for growth at Polypipe through greater focus on core businesses, more co-ordination between business units and new products, including products from China and other low cost sources,” said Howard D. Morgan, a senior managing director at Castle Harlan, who led the firm's Polypipe project team. “There is also growth opportunity in Polypipe's European markets and measured entry into new markets, as well as possible complementary acquisitions."