Lewis Silkin advises France-based Raja Group on acquisition of Morplan, mail order distributor to UK’s retail and fashion industry

Lewis Silkin has advised France-based Raja Group, the leading European industrial packaging distributor, on its acquisition of Morplan, the number one B2B mail order distributor to UK’s retail and fashion industry.

This acquisition enables the Raja Group, which has a presence in fifteen European countries, to double its level of activity in the UK market and to gain access to new product expertise and customers. The transaction offers prospective commercial and operational synergies between the company’s existing UK subsidiary, Rajapack, and Morplan with the latter generating sales of 25 million Euros and employing circa 120 employees. Through a multi-channel strategy Morplan offers 5000 products through a 500-page catalogue and has three outlets in London, Glasgow and Bristol as well as an online presence and dedicated key account sales team.

The Raja Group has acquired Morplan from the Rétif Group, a French company and Europe’s leading supplier of retail equipment, owned by the Private Equity companies Verdoso, Pragma-Capital, LGT and Idinvest.

For this transaction, the Lewis Silkin team was led by Corporate partner and Head of the firm’s French Desk, Marie-Caroline Frochot, and she was supported by Corporate senior associate Laura May, Corporate Tax senior associate Matthew Rowbotham and Corporate associate Susie Jarrold. The employment law aspects were led by associate Lee Nair whilst Real Estate senior associate Jonathan Ely led on property law matters.

Marie-Caroline says “Having advised Rétif in 1999 when it acquired Morplan from Ferguson PLC, it has been a real pleasure to advise the Raja Group on this transaction whilst I also advised Raja in 1998 when it acquired UK-based Aid-Pack Limited. Raja’s acquisition of Morplan enabled us at Lewis Silkin to further establish the firm’s integrated cross-practice offering for French-based companies seeking to penetrate the UK market”. 

For more information please contact:
David Lawrence
Business Development and Marketing Manager
Tel: 020 7074 8260
Email: david.lawrence@lewissilkin.com