In This Issue
Is the £91m sale and leaseback deal funding Wyvevale Garden Centre's ongoing spending spree?
Rising Stars prepare for Brighton finale
HTA Netherlands Retail Study Tour 17-19 February 2016
Change at the top at Vitax
Magic earlybird start for Jack’s All Purpose
Wyevale acquires Woodcote Green Garden Centre
Garden lighting sales continue to shine in New Year
Mr Fothergills leads the way with new veg seed sales
Gardman triples size of its Christmas offering
Increase profits from your pond fixture with Superfish
Expansion plans at Planters of Bretby given go-ahead
CM Van Hage 19 September 1924 – 5 January 2016
John Brian Edmonds
Hillview and Brandsford Webbs enable Hospice Garden at Malvern Spring Show
Groen-Direkt comes of age!
Ansells Paresh to run London Marathon for Perennial
Loose lbs and gain £'s for Garden Re-Leaf Day
Work Begins on Greenfingers Chelsea Flower Show Relocation at Isle of Wight Hospice
Mr Fothergill's wants a name for Royal Hospital Sweet Pea
Pastels trend to boost Mothers' Day sales this year, say G Plants
Garden Plant of the Month for February: Snowball
Garden centre fraudster told to pay money back
The Greatest Awards go back on tour in 2016
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Matt's over the moon to be a Rising Star at Squires
Coolings Rising Star Sophie loves responsibility
From watching at Blackpool, Will Clark is now a Barton Grange Rising Star at Brighton
Jack Fillingham graduates from Sunshine training scheme to Rising Stars
Barton Grange Cookshop Rising Star Kath Bailey sets her goal on winning in Brighton
Sam Clark from Cowells is "chuffed" to be a Rising Star
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Is the £91m sale and leaseback deal funding Wyvevale Garden Centre's ongoing spending spree?

If you’ve ever wondered how Wyevale Garden centres can sustain its spending spree, there’s a clue on the grapevine this week.

WGC has managed to grow its garden centre portfolio to more than 150 through an aggressive acquisition programme funded by the deep pockets of its equity capital owners, Terra Firma.

The interest in acquiring garden centres businesses in the UK is currently intense, with multiple offers chasing each ‘for sale’ announcement. As a result, prices have been pushed up and up, to the delight of their owners, as the buyers with the fattest cheques seal the deals. More often than not, it’s WGC. 

But not even Terra Firma’s pockets will be bottomless. After all, the group has a large and diverse portfolio of interests with many calls on its assets and challenging scenarios to face (as browsing the investment press will reveal).

So the news this week that Wyevale Garden Centres has completed £91m worth of sale and leaseback deals on eight garden centres may help to explain how it is still able to buy highly-valued garden centre businesses and pay top dollar for them.

In December 2015 Orchard Street Investment Management bought and leased back Altrincham, Gosforth, Nantwich, Leicester, Huntingdon, Braintree, Woking and Osterley properties on behalf of St James's Place Wealth Management. WGC has signed new 25 year leases on them – and meanwhile has £91m more cash in hand to spend on acquisitions.

Until recently Wyevale held more than 70% of its sites on freehold, but, having seen how much interest was created by last year’s sale of La Salle Investment Management’s £110m Garden Centre Fund (which featured six WGC prime sites, including Bicester Avenue) to Black Rock, it may be sizing up further sale and leaseback as an increasingly attractive route to growth.

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