28 Sep 2018 /

Luminii Consulting is delighted to have provided Commercial Due Diligence (CDD) support to Rockpool Investments on its recent investment in Primrose, Europe's largest online-only garden products retailer.

Founded in 2003, Primrose offers consumers a market-leading range of over 10,000 garden and outdoor leisure products from ranges including water features, awnings, sail shades, pest control products, planters and screening.

Primrose primarily sources its products from a network of suppliers based in the Far East and sells direct to consumers (D2C) via its UK and European websites. The company generates half of its sales to UK consumers, a quarter to European customers and the remainder through intermediary websites. Primrose grew revenues to £38m and EBITDA to £2.5m in the year to October 2017.

The acquisition sees Rockpool become the majority owner of the new group, with the management team investing in a significant stake. Mark Pearson, previously chief executive of Gardman Group and Solus Garden & Leisure, led the management buyout and has been appointed as Primrose’s new CEO. The company’s board has been further strengthened by the appointment of David Brock as non-executive chairman and Simon Baker as chief financial officer.

“Lushani and her team at Luminii delivered a high quality CDD report that exceeded our expectations. We were particularly pleased with the post deal recommendations and informed opinions contained within the report. We wouldn’t hesitate to use Luminii’s services again on future projects.” - Rockpool Investments

"It was a pleasure to support Rockpool on this deal and we wish them and Primrose's Management Team continued success for the future. Luminii Consulting has worked on five online retail transactions during the past 3 months, and this deal helps to distinguish our leading presence within the online retail and direct-to-consumer (D2C) sectors." - Lushani Kodituwakku, Managing Director, Luminii Consulting

  • The Luminii team did an excellent job of covering the project objectives set & provided us with invaluable research & information that helped us with our business direction & decisions. They understood our business needs and were thorough, diligent, and offered sound advice. We have since progressed well with market entry & have moved forward with one of their contacts who is now running our office in the target market in Spain. We would certainly recommend them to other businesses looking for support, thank you Luminii!

    CEO, Global Freight Company

  • We engaged Luminii for Commercial Due Diligence support on one of our recent investments and we were highly impressed with their high-quality report, professionalism, and flexibility. Luminii were able to address our key questions and due diligence requirements against a tight deadline. They conducted a robust primary research programme, consisting of referencing and surveys and we appreciated their timely updates throughout our engagement. Luminii's team is highly collaborative, showcased by how they worked with us as well as the Management team, other advisors, and our lenders, which we appreciated. We would not hesitate to recommend their services and look forward to working with them again in the future.

    Global Private Equity Firm with £14 Billion Fund

  • To date, Lushani and her team have supported me and Foresight on over 20 deals. They have consistently delivered high quality CDD reports, always against tight deadlines and to above expectation. They offer good value for money. Luminii are quick to understand our needs, offer sound advice and support on complex topics. Their ability to tailor the scope to our needs, focus on the core issues of each project and not being afraid to give their opinion backed by sound research and analysis is a great benefit to us. I would recommend their services without hesitation.

    Private equity investment firm with circa £4 billion of assets under management

  • We were impressed with Luminii. They delivered what they promised; the information was useful and actionable, which is what we were looking for. In addition, they were responsive and timely, and the team liked the way Luminii worked. Would we recommend them if someone called us? We definitely would, with an enthusiastic recommendation.

    Board of Directors of a global SaaS Company, UK

  • Luminii Consulting proved themselves to be a highly flexible and dedicated team who delivered a high quality CDD report in a complex tech sector. They were able to cover a wide scope across multiple geographies to a strict deadline and provided us with the required insight and strategic advice to make an informed decision. We appreciated their effort and enjoyed working with the Luminii team.

    Private equity and venture capital with £9.1bn worth of funds under management

  • Lushani and her team at Luminii delivered a high quality CDD report that exceeded our expectations. We were particularly pleased with the post deal recommendations and informed opinions contained within the report. We wouldn't hesitate to use Luminii's services again on future projects.

    Leading mid- market private equity firm

  • We engaged Luminii Consulting for a very targeted piece of commercial diligence in a very short timeframe. Luminii produced an outstanding report exactly on scope in what is a niche market segment. Moreover they managed to produce it in a very short period of time which was essential to getting the deal done.

    Leading independent investment manager with funds of over £1 billion under management

  • We enjoyed a strong working relationship with Luminii Consulting. Their work went above and beyond the scope of the CDD and offered strategic insight and advice that has since helped us with both our post-deal strategy and business development.

    Leading SaaS provider of Identity & Access Management (IAM) software, IDaaS and Identity API

  • Luminii supported the recent MBO with Foresight Group and Signature Property Finance (SPF), providing strategic insight which has enabled the management team to transform their route to market. The CDD report gives SPF valuable intelligence into the competition; market trends; customer feedback and the opportunities that are within the marketplace. The report has been useful to segment data, share customer feedback with the wider SPF team, enabling them to attack the competition and continue to deliver a quality service to brokers/direct clients. Overall, a really insightful report that gives the Management team really useful intelligence.

    Finance lender providing short term property finance