Had Sinclair collapsed without a tidy rescue deal, the industry would have been faced with its second trail of devastation within 12 months. The announcement that administrators had been called in at one of the Big Three names in growing media, chems and ferts came a year almost to the week after Scotts finally stepped in to clear up after the Solus debacle.

This time, the cavalry arrived in the form of Scotts’ arch rival Westland, which timed its intervention to perfection to grab the assets of the entire Sinclair group from the hands of the receivers while the ink was still drying on the insolvency practitioner’s press release.

Westland’s backers, Northern Ireland’s Danske Bank, were briefed that to clinch the deal for £18m-turnover Sinclair, speed was of the essence. Westland FD Scott Dougherty said: “In a process where the time frame to completion was a critical differentiator for Westland, Danske's support in terms of the speed of credit approval, the structure of facilities, the overall level of support available together with the management of the process to completion was essential to the success of the acquisition.”

That makes one wonder whether the pressure to complete was increased by other parties sniffing around the table… Not Scotts – too soon after their Solus surgery. Possibly German supplier Neudorff, which is having notable UK success -  and would relate to the organic elements of Sinclair’s catalogue?  Or Bord na Mona, perhaps, which might have seen synergy with its Vital Earth business?

As it happens, many believe that Sinclair’s acquisition by Westland will turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to it. Although there have been intermittent quality control and security of supply issues around the growing media offering, Sinclair’s brand portfolio, which includes J. Arthur Bower’s, New Horizon, Growing Success and Deadfast, is intrinsically strong – a view acknowledged by Westland joint MD Edward Conroy (pictured left)  in a warm ‘welcome to our world’ statement:

He said: “This acquisition will bring much needed stability to William Sinclair’s business and brands starting from today. We have always believed that Sinclair’s is an important part of our industry’s landscape, and we are fully committed to maintaining this for the long term.

“Sinclair’s is fundamentally a good business with strong consumer brands which can now only thrive from being part of the Westland family.”

The acquisition adds around 20% to Westland’s turnover (currently more than £106 million), increases its footprint in the UK market, gives it a stronger foothold in commercial horticulture as well as own-brand supply – all in all combining to make Westland strategically well set across the industry’s core categories.

Freed from the investor constraints of AIM, from which it was de-listed last week, after an agonizing year of uncertainty, Sinclair under Westland’s shrewd and experienced management may have found its true new horizon at last.