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O'Sullivan Industries In European MBO

U.S. home and office furniture supplier, O'Sullivan Industries has announced the sale of its European operation based in Milton Keynes, UK, to its European management team, effective from 1st July. The management buy out is being led by Managing Director Andy Dunkley, Sales and Marketing Director, Carl Baines and Finance Manager Tara Elsley. The new owners are no strangers to the home and office furniture market. All three have been involved previously in the office products industry at Newell Office Products. Dunkley had a successful move to Newellπs $400Million writing instrument business, Sanford Europe (owners of Parker, Waterman, Paper Mate and Berol brands), as Vice President - Finance. Baines held posts in overseas sales at Berol and Sanford while Elsley was at Electrolux. The new company, DBE Products Limited, will become official European distributor for O'Sullivan office and home furniture. The management team has already implemented improvements in warehousing, distribution and logistics, and strengthened its sales, marketing, finance and most importantly its customer service function. New systems have been implemented to offer customers market leading delivery and order fill performance all supporting an enhanced product portfolio. Dunkley says: "The reason for the MBO is that we believe the market for home and office furniture is increasing rapidly. One exciting development for the new business is how we intend to support the retailers. With the changes already made we can now offer our customers three delivery options: direct to warehouse or distribution centre, direct to store for multi-site operators or alternatively direct to their customer. This is all backed up with high quality logistics and customer service support. "As distributor for O"Sullivan we can offer the most appropriate products from an already established range, but also have the opportunity to offer a broader product strategy than needed by the U.S. business. We have already set up and established partnerships in the Far East and across Europe to give us access to a wider product portfolio. We intend to increase our sourcing partnerships to offer a full product line in laminates, melamine, veneer and real wood. This will allow us to also extend the product offering to new materials for new market segments and other furniture categories depending on customer demand. "These are exciting times for DBE Products and we feel sure we will be able to add value to our customers business through implementing sound product, distribution and logistics strategies." For further information please contact Andy Dunkley or Carl Baines at DBE Products on 08700 668314.