West Midlands company Hardy & Greys, supplier to Prince Charles, has been bought by a South Carolina organization
The 140-year-old firm, based in Alnwick, Northumberland, was put up for sale last year by Coventry-based Harris & Sheldon, a family investment firm whose interests also include a grouse moor in Derbyshire, the Junction salmon fishing beat on the River Tweed and timeshare angling holidays on the River Tay.
The West Midlands business, which had owned the tackle firm since 1967, hired accountants Grant Thornton to find a buyer and on Tuesday a deal was announced with Pure Fishing, of Columbia in South Carolina, part of a $5bn Nasdaq-listed conglomerate.
Hardy was founded as a gunsmith in 1872, but swiftly moved into fishing tackle. It was awarded its first patent in 1880, was sending out catalogues that ran to 374 pages by 1929 and later developed the first carbon fiber fishing rods.
After working with researchers from Cambridge University and 3M, it created rods made from a Sintrix carbon fiber material, which the firm claims is 60% stronger than other carbon fiber rods. It also owns the Chub fishing brand.
The company, which has held royal warrants for 100 years, became Hardy & Greys after buying out rival Greys in 2004. It employs 100 staff and has subsidiaries in the US and Germany, which are key markets. The rod maker also makes custom-made composite tubes for customers in the defence, medical, sporting and consumer product markets.
The business, however, has recently been loss-making. In 2010 it sold about 80,000 rods, posted a turnover of £13m, but lost about £446,000.
The Hardy & Greys deal is the latest in a series of transactions in which well-known British brands have been snapped up by overseas buyers. Weetabix was sold to a Chinese food business last year, Raleigh bicycles has gone Dutch, Sarson’s vinegar has become part of a Japanese group, and last month Sunseeker, the Poole-based luxury yachts business, was also sold to China.
Geoff Davies, head of corporate finance at Grant Thornton, said: “We are beginning to see signs of a strengthening corporate finance market and this latest deal highlights an increasing trend for overseas buyers keen to acquire strong British brands across a range of sectors.”
