Page 4 - Chase Case Study Final

Post Tyrrells Crisps – 2008

Chase sold his remaining stake in Tyrrells to a private equity outfit,
Langholm Capital, for almost £40m in 2008. He said he did not sell out
to collect a big cheque, but because the business was getting too big
and was no fun anymore. So what did Chase, who was declared
bankrupt at 29, spend the money on? "Well, I had just got divorced, so
my ex-wife got 40% of it," he says. Then he paid off all his debts and
spent £3m building the distillery, including £900,000 on the world's tallest

copper distillation column.

Chase believed that Langholm bought Tyrrells in 2008 because the
banks were "daft enough" to lend them the money just as the economic
crisis bit. "We were quite lucky. It was good timing."

The “bankers” pulled out of many of the small delicatessens and farm
shops that Chase spent so long cultivating, to concentrate on bringing
Tyrrells to the wider market. Likewise, they ceased to use Chase's
premium potatoes.

"When they bought it they had a contract with us to keep supplying
them, but then they found they could get them cheaper elsewhere."

Furthermore, they forced Chase to rebrand his fledgling distillery, which
was a “bit of a bugger”, he says, but also a blessing in disguise: “You
don’t want a premium drink associated with snacks.”