UK/INTERNATIONAL
K-Bro Linen Inc, the owner of the Fishers and Shortridge commercial laundry businesses in the UK, has announced on the Toronto Stock Exchange its plans to acquire Star Mayan Limited*, creating a top three national laundry business in the UK. The acquisition is transformative for K-Bro, building an international, balanced commercial laundry business that serves both the healthcare and hospitality sectors.
With an agreed consideration of £107 million (on a cash-free, debt-free basis, including a normalised level of working capital), the transaction is expected to complete in early June.
The combined UK business will employ around 2,000 staff in peak season and will operate from a total of 17 UK locations, from Perth in the North to Central London in the South.
This will immediately make K-Bro a major player in the UK healthcare laundry sector and provide a platform from which to grow its existing hospitality, workwear and cleanroom businesses on a national scale.
K-Bro’s UK managing director, Michael Jones, said: “This is a major milestone for K-Bro. I’m proud to say that, in less than 10 years, K-Bro is growing from its roots as Canada’s largest commercial laundry company to become an international player. Our business in the UK will now have national coverage, with 17 sites and serving both healthcare and hospitality.
“But more than that, it is assembling a powerful team with the drive and expertise to build further on the platform that it is creating.”
K-Bro, headquartered in Edmonton, Canada, was founded in 1954 and is the largest owner and operator of laundry and linen processing facilities in Canada. K-Bro provides a comprehensive range of general linen and operating room linen processing, management and distribution services to healthcare institutions, hotels and other commercial accounts.
Fishers, acquired by K-Bro in 2017, was established in 1900 and is an operator of laundry and linen processing facilities in Scotland and the North of England.
Shortridge, acquired by K-Bro in 2024, has operated as a family-run business since the 1990s and has sites in Workington, Dumfries and Darlington.
*Star Mayan Limited, the parent of the SynergyLMS group, acquired 100% of the shares in airline textile care specialist Aeroserve MSP and Euro Ltd (“Aeroserve”) textile care services business in March 2019 for an undisclosed sum.
Star Mayan Limited was established to own and develop laundry and associated service businesses. It is backed by funds managed by STAR Capital, a European private equity fund manager that was founded in 1999 with the goal of acquiring and developing asset-based businesses that provide an essential service to their customers.
