The Garden Centre Group announced today that they had acquired The Garden & Leisure Group from Louis Delhaize, which also owns Truffaut, a leading French garden centre group.

The deal had been widely predicted in GTN Xtra in recent weeks.

The purchase adds seven large garden centres in prime locations to the group’s portfolio of 132 centres and is TGCG’s first major acquisition under Terra Firma’s ownership.

The deal follows TGCG’s recent acquisition of Cheddar and Lechlade garden centres from Park Garden Centres of Bristol.

Terra Firma’s chairman and chief investment officer Guy Hands said Terra Firma was committed to supporting the execution of TGCG's strategy, one of the key pillars of which was expansion of the group. “We have been actively seeking high quality acquisition opportunities and today's Garden & Leisure Group deal is a very good fit both with the existing TGCG estate, and our strategic vision for growing the leisure side of the business.”

Kevin Bradshaw, chief executive of The Garden Centre Group, said: “Adding these unique destination stores to our Group represents a major milestone in our ambitious growth plans and the seven centres, in strong catchment areas, complement our existing estate well. We are excited about the opportunity to expand and develop our offering and plan to invest in and develop all seven sites into flagship garden centres for our group.”