Founded in Worthing in the 1960s, Bowers & Wilkins specialises in the development of premium loudspeakers. Today, the company’s portfolio encompasses elite performance speakers, headphones, car audio and wireless streaming audio equipment and services.
B&W is a market leader in the premium audio category, spanning the consumer and professional markets with the latter including installations in world-renowned studios such as Abbey Road and Skywalker Sound.
Against a background of significant global uncertainty, in 2020, the business was marketed for sale, with Sound United LLC becoming the preferred bidder and the incumbent lender also looking to exit on an accelerated basis.
Our Role
- Extended £13m working capital facility to the business in June 2020 in order to refinance the incumbent lender and provide additional funding to bridge to the sale to Sound United LLC
- Working capital facility was put in place within one month of introduction
- Facility availability driven by global asset base
- Covenant-lite facility allowed B&W flexibility given COVID-19 headwinds
Results
- Funding provided B&W with the additional liquidity to ensure business continuity
- Refinance allowed B&W the time and stability to allow the sale to Sound United to be fully negotiated, resulting in completion in October 2020