INDUSTRY
Based in the North of England, Modern Rugs was one of the UK’s leading retailers of rugs, offering an extensive selection of over 10,000 designs.
Modern Rugs was founded by entrepreneur Ben Dale, whose parents ran a successful business selling carpets. Through hard work and the help of his family’s industry contacts, he had built the company into a thriving business, catering for all tastes, markets and price ranges. While keen to retain an active day-to-day role in Modern Rugs, Mr Dale felt the timing was right to bring in the outside investment needed to expand the company and take it to its next stage of growth.
He approached Avondale to help identify a suitable investor. After strategic marketing of the company to a range of potential trade and private buyers, Avondale’s work bore fruit in the form of a joint offer from two private investors: Martin Tragen, the former financial director of Timpsons, and Mike Seery, the former head of corporate recovery at KPMG in the North West.
With Avondale leading the negotiations, a deal was agreed to suit each of the parties. In return for their investment, Mr Tragen assumed operational control of the company, with Mr Seery taking up an executive director role. Mr Dale continues to hold an equity stake in the company, but having released significant capital, he is now free to focus on his full-time role as Commercial Director.
“While selecting the company to work with, Tim (Hardman of Avondale) stood out against others. His knowledge in the whole process of business sales is one of the reasons I chose Avondale. I also liked that I was able to deal with him directly and not a team or a front end sales person.”
Ben Dale, Director, Modern Rugs