Next Wave Partners has sold its majority stake in Fox International, Europe’s largest privately owned fishing tackle company, to Mayfair Equity Partners whilst retaining a significant minority.
Next Wave Partners (“Next Wave”) has sold its majority stake in Fox International, (“Fox”), Europe’s largest privately owned fishing tackle company, to Mayfair Equity Partners (“Mayfair”) whilst retaining a significant minority. The investment, which values Fox at £50 million, gives Mayfair majority control of the business alongside Fox’s management team, led by its Chief Executive, David Algar.
Based in Hainault, Essex, Fox was founded by Clifford Fox in 1964 and sells over 3,000 products in more than 30 countries. It focuses on product leadership and innovation in the supply of fishing equipment for anglers globally. Fishing is one of the world’s biggest sports, with an estimated 350 million anglers worldwide spending £9 billion per annum. In the UK, a recent Sport England survey cited fishing as being the country’s number one sport with 2.9 million active participants, 600,000 more than play football.
Mayfair and Next Wave’s investment in Fox provides additional capital to help it accelerate growth in new and existing markets. The company’s core markets today are the UK, Germany, France and The Netherlands.
Next Wave’s Managing Partner, Jonathan Brod, said:
“We are delighted to continue our investment in one the world’s leading fishing tackle providers. Our ongoing investment will enable future acquisitions, continued investment into product R&D and geographic expansion, further enhancing Fox’s market leading position. Next Wave had many options to choose from but the Mayfair team stood out clearly as the best and most added value partners for this next chapter in Fox’s development.”
David Algar, Chief Executive of Fox, commented:
“We are really pleased to have Mayfair join Next Wave as investors in Fox, and that they both share our vision for strong and sustainable growth. Fox has been an incredible success story over the years because we endeavour to understand and really meet the needs and aspirations of the specialist angler. With the combined resources of Mayfair and Next Wave, we expect to take our success to a whole new level.”
Commenting on the transaction, Mayfair’s Managing Partner, Daniel Sasaki, said:
“We are delighted to have made our second investment. It’s exciting to be partnering with Next Wave and such a high quality and passionate management team who are experts in their field. Fishing is one of those sports where a niche image belies its true size and market opportunity. Fox is exactly the kind of investment we look for, where our skills and engagement can help a high quality team to realise the full potential of their business faster.”
Notes to Editors
Next Wave Partners
Next Wave Partners is a transformational private equity investor, focused on maximising value in high potential UK-headquartered private businesses with attractive niche positioning. Next Wave is expert in identifying innovative companies with ‘disruptive’ potential within the business and consumer services sectors. Other Next Wave companies include Petainer, one of the world’s most innovative and fast growing packaging groups, Molinare, the award winning British post production company, The Delivery Group, one of the UK’s fastest growing e-commerce logistics providers and Future Thinking, an innovative and award winning market research group.
Fox International
Fox International is the largest privately owned fishing tackle company in Europe with a reputation for product leadership and innovation.
