Scotts Miracle-Gro said today that it had reached an agreement to acquire the own brands of stricken wholesaler Solus.
The announcement comes three months after the breakdown of negotiations that would have seen Scotts take Solus over. DIY Week understood at the time that Solus was the one to pull out of the deal, despite Scotts feeling it had made a strong offer.

In May Solus collapsed into administration and has subsequently shed over 100 jobs and closed its Edinburgh and Norwich depots.

Scotts, the world's biggest supplier of branded consumer lawn and garden products, has now returned with a fresh offer that will see it take Solus' Yeoman, Joseph Bentley, ChapelWood, Botanico, Garden Nation and Bermuda brands.

Mark Pearson, previously chief executive officer of Solus, will join Scotts to lead the acquired brands, which will be operated as a Scotts Solus Brands internal division within The Scotts Company (UK).

"The acquired Solus brands are complementary to our existing gardens business in the UK and fill some gaps in our current product offering," commented Martin Breddy, The Scotts Company (UK) vice president and general manager.

"We're excited to combine these brands with Scotts' innovation, advertising and marketing and are confident this will help drive faster growth for the UK gardening market.

"We welcome the Solus team into the Scotts family and are working towards a seamless transition," he added.

Meanwhile, Tony Barrell, joint administrator at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: "I'm pleased to announce the completion of the sale to Scotts, which secures the future of the Solus brands and business.

"I would like to thank the employees, key customers and suppliers for all their support over the last eight weeks. We will now be communicating with the suppliers of the third-party branded products, which were not sold as part of the deal."

Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Read more in the July 25 issue of DIY Week