What More UK, the manufacturer of housewares brand Wham, has completed the acquisition of West Midlands based manufacturer Firsteel Ltd with legal support from Farleys Solicitors.
What More is already a hugely successful market leader in the production of plastic housewares, storage and garden products in the UK. The Wham brand is sold in every major UK supermarket and 1600 independent retailers.
This latest acquisition will allow them to secure their bakeware and cookware lines using Firsteel’s customised prefinished metal, allowing What More UK total quality control of the whole process of production.
Tony Grimshaw OBE, Director at What More UK, was pleased to welcome Firsteel’s staff to the What More manufacturing family and added,
“Their contribution will be essential and absolutely brilliant, of that we are sure. This move will lead to other product opportunities and development, even using other metals.
“At the moment the UK brand and market leader in bakeware and cookware is China. We have superb quality products at competitive prices, manufacturing capacity, a secure supply line and our outstanding reputation for customer service. We now look for the continued support of UK retailing and hopefully gaining more, to achieve the goal of UK brand and market leadership in the bakeware and cookware sector.
This is a match made in heaven. Firsteel’s expertise, and their proud, committed, and enthusiastic workforce will slot in perfectly with the rest of the What More team. Now we truly are a drawing board to the oven, bakeware/cookware supplier. Designed in the UK, made in the UK, sold to the UK and the world!”
Corporate legal advice on the deal was provided by Farleys’ partner Debbie King and solicitor Amy Duncan. Commercial property advice was provided by partner Tom O’Neill.
Debbie King commented,
We are delighted to have worked with the What More team again on this latest deal, which adds to their existing strong bakeware and cookware offering and keeps an important manufacturing process in the UK. The acquisition of Firsteel is a superb result for the business and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
Tony Grimshaw OBE added, “Firsteel’s expertise, and their proud, committed, and enthusiastic workforce will slot in perfectly with the rest of the What More team. I’d like to thank Farleys for their expertise in helping to conclude this deal, and their professionalism throughout.”
