Crocodile snapped up by long-established freight forwarder

Crocodile Stores has been sold to TransGlobal Freight Management in what Charles Needham, the KBS Corporate Transaction Adviser who oversaw the deal, described as “near enough a perfect horizontal acquisition”.

Founded by Matt Kirby in 2002 as an e-commerce retailer of toys and other products for children before transitioning to distribution, Crocodile has formed associations with major carriers including Amazon and Shopify to store their stock and ship parcels.

The opportunity attracted a very high level of interest from trade and private equity buyers, and a competitive bidding process culminated in the successful offer from Trans Global.

Operating from several UK locations as well as India and China, Trans Global, which was formed in 1970, saw strong potential for Nottingham-based Crocodile to thrive under new ownership. “The company is in a great position for someone to grow it while allowing the founder to concentrate on running the business” explained Charles Needham. “Investment in infrastructure could lead to a great deal of growth for the company over the coming years“.

“The main appeal of Crocodile to TransGlobal was that it was near enough a perfect horizontal acquisition. The buyer mentioned that the operations of Crocodile are exactly what they are doing at a couple of their own sites”.

“I’m delighted for our client to see him achieve a successful sale as we had a great working relationship throughout the process, which ran smoothly from the outset. TransGlobal were very willing and open as a potential acquirer throughout and a pleasure to work with”.

Charles also praised the work of KBS Corporate colleague Danae Glover, Document Writer, for producing impressive marketing materials which “must have grabbed the buyer’s eyes immediately”.