KBS OVERSEES A SYNERGISTIC ALLIANCE WITH SALE TO BCS

Alliance UK, a London-based online provider of cleaning, janitorial, catering and hygiene products, has been sold to BCS in a deal coordinated by Matthew Sibley, KBS Corporate Associate Director.

With the owner of Alliance, Pedro Fernandes, planning to retire, the opportunity attracted strong interest, almost all of which was from trade acquirers although some were synergistic buyers involved in safety products, facility management and general hygiene.

Brighton-based BCS was founded as a catering supplier in 2011, servicing hospitality businesses in Sussex before rapidly expanding to schools, hospitals and other institutions and geographically to London.

Seeking to cement its foothold in England’s capital, BCS acted quickly to finalise the transaction and is eager to grow Alliance UK.

“Alliance has a solid customer base and needed some modernising and streamlining, and we are more technologically advanced,” explained Ben Ferrer, CEO of BCS.

“That means we can make efficiencies to give our customers better service and pricing, as well as solidifying our position as a major London supplier.

“We are looking to grow the existing customer base between BCS and Alliance in London, using Alliance’s expertise on cleaning materials and combining that with BCS’ expertise of catering supplies.”

Alliance will continue to operate under its existing management team, along with support from Ben Ferrer and BCS Group’s Operations Director, Tom Austen, who will oversee day-to-day operations at both BCS and Alliance.

Asked how satisfied he had been with KBS’ involvement in the deal, Ben said “very much – we got the deal done”, while Matthew Sibley said he too was “very satisfied with the sale” to a “keen buyer who is eager to grow Alliance UK”.