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DEALMAKERS By Ged Henderson
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Mike Aramayo describes himself as ‘the great survivor’. As such, the 61-year-old managing director of Buoyant Upholstery is about to guide the company into the next stage of its 117 year business journey.
NVM Private Equity completed the sale of the Nelson based company, one of the UK’s leading independent upholstered furniture manufacturers, in July.
The deal has brought Buoyant together with south Wales company Ashwood Designs Group, creating the UK’s largest sofa manufacturing group, and it represents a 3.3x return for investors.
Established in 1909, the company built its early name as a leading supplier of upholstered furniture for cinemas, theatres and luxury cruise liners.
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Today Buoyant has a long standing reputation for quality, design and innovation in upholstered furniture - manufacturing the vast majority of its products in the UK.
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It operates a state-of-the-art 332,000 sq ft production facility in Nelson and is one of the town’s largest employers, with a skilled workforce of more than 550 employees. The entire executive team, including Mike, will remain with the business.
Mike, the father of the BAFTA award winning actor Robert – best known for last year’s hit I Swear – has been in the furniture industry since his mid 20s. He joined Buoyant in 2000 when it was a privately owned family business.
He became its MD in 2008 and remained in the
post after private equity firm NVM came on the scene supporting a management buyout in 2013.
During NVM’s 13 years in the business its turnover has grown to just over £50m and Buoyant, like its MD, has survived and thrived.
The new owner is Ashwood Designs Group, owned by UK based investment and management firm Dunham Massey Investment Group (DMIG) since 2023. DMIG has around £140m of assets currently under management in the UK.
Mike says: “We have been on a fantastic journey and I could not have asked for more supportive backers every step of the way.
“I have enjoyed working with both Joel Rosenblatt, our chair, and the NVM team and I am now excited to be taking Buoyant forward on the next part of our journey.”
it is ‘a challenging environment’ and he points to some recent big-name manufacturing casualties, adding: “Manufacturing in the UK is tough.”
The challenges he lists include imports from China and increasing costs alongside rising prices for materials.
He would like to see more support for British manufacturing from the new Burnham government. However he remains confident the future of Buoyant is bright, pointing to the success story and its continued expansion since the management buyout.
Earlier this year it expanded its portfolio by acquiring the well known Ashley Manor brand after the midlands based manufacturer entered administration and it also launched a series of leather and recliner models, developed under its Prestige Collections banner.
We never stand still, and we’re already looking
ahead to what’s next. We’ll continue investing in our people, our products and our customers because that’s what will keep driving us forward
The business supplies a raft of major retailers including DFS, Sofology, Furniture Village and John Lewis.
Mike says: “Everything we do is in house, from start to finish. It is all about design, comfort and price. Those are our three main ingredients.”
Looking at the furniture sector in the UK he says
Mike says: “We never stand still and we are already looking ahead to what’s next. We will continue investing in our people, our products and our customers because that is what will keep driving us forward.”
Alex Wilson, investment director at NVM, led the transaction from its Manchester office. NVM is an independent private equity investor focused
SOFA SO GOOD: FURNITURE GROUP IS SITTING PRETTY
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