Fishers acquired by K-Bro for £35m

Fishers Laundry Group (Fishers) parent company, Fishers Topco, has been acquired by Canada-based K-Bro Linen from private equity firm, Caird Capital for £35m.

Fishers is one of the leading commercial laundry and textile rental providers in Scotland and the North East of England.

In the deal, due to complete today, K-Bro plans to use Fishers to build its presence in the UK commercial laundry and textile rental market.

Fishers will operate as a standalone, wholly owned subsidiary of K-Bro and will retain its headquarters in Cupar, Fife.

It has been confirmed that the Fishers management team will remain with the business.

Michael Jones, managing director of Fishers, said: "This is great news for Fishers as it brings a new owner for the business with the resources, experience and ambition to take Fishers to the next level. I am confident that, as part of K-Bro, Fishers will thrive and I look forward to drawing on K-Bro's experience, particularly in the Canadian healthcare sector, to help us grow the Fishers business further here in the UK."

Linda McCurdy, president and chief executive officer of K-Bro, said: "We are very excited to add the Fishers platform as K-Bro's first acquisition outside of Canada. The UK linen hospitality market is mature, but still highly fragmented, and we expect to leverage Fishers' leading market position, experienced local management team, entrenched customer relationships and proven track record of stable and profitable operations to take advantage of the significant organic growth and consolidation opportunities available to us, similar to what we have achieved in Canada."

Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, K-Bro employs over 1,600 people in nine processing facilities and two distribution centres in 10 cities across Canada.