The Managing Director of leading wide-format signage and display supplier Spandex, Alex McClelland, has announced his departure from the company, following its successful acquisition by Chequers Capital, a French-German private equity firm with over AUD$2.6 billion under management.
“It’s been a hard decision to leave such a fantastic team after fourteen years, but the acquisition by Chequers provided me with time to reflect and decide on the next stage of my career,” says McClelland. “As a major shareholder in the local Spandex business, I am also able to realise my shareholding, confident in the knowledge that we have built the strongest and most innovative distributor to the sign and display sector on this side of the world.”
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| The Managing Director of leading wide-format signage and display supplier Spandex, Alex McClelland, has announced his departure from the company. |
Chequers Capital has acquired all of Swiss-headquartered Spandex’s worldwide operations from funds advised by Gilde Buyout Partners, who funded the carve-out from Gerber Scientific Inc. in 2011. The ensuing five years has seen Spandex grow healthily to twenty-eight branches around the world, servicing more than 30,000 SME customers involved in signage, display, vehicle fleet wrapping, architectural décor and emerging new areas such as textiles, enabled by the march of digital inkjet printing technologies.
The binding agreement was signed on December 14th last year and was finalised recently. Karsten Hartmann, Director at Chequers Capital, said at the time:
"We are excited about this partnership. Spandex is an outstanding company with leadership positions across Europe and Australia. We are extremely impressed by the strong management team and are looking forward to supporting them in their strategy to grow the company. We see multiple avenues to grow, especially expanding into new markets and into new product categories. In addition, we are keen to support Spandex in growing via further acquisitions.”
Australia is a very important market for Spandex, as McClelland notes: "The strategies and growth initiatives put in place and acquisitions such as Plas Image and Qualsign, plus further plans, will stand Spandex in good stead for the future as it moves to further consolidate itself as the number one player in the Australian market place. My successor will inherit a very sound business, staffed by very talented and capable people.”
He adds: “I have enjoyed my role at Spandex immensely and have made many long lasting business relationships, both internally and externally in the marketplace. I look forward to continuing these in the future.”
The search for Alex McClelland’s replacement has begun during which time he is flexible on departure date.
Spandex Asia Pacific
www.spandex.com.au
