THE management team of a York turf company has decided the grass is greener at home - and has bought out the business from the more than 470 shareholders.

Rolawn, which has produced rolling green acres for everything from Emmerdale Farm to St Andrew's golf course and Epsom Racecourse, had 475 shareholders and the highly complex £3.35m deal required the approval of all of them.

The buy-out, which was funded by the Leeds office of Lloyds Development Capital, was lead by Rolawn's managing director Ken Dawson and finance director Paul Hopewell.

Mr Dawson, who founded the business 23 years ago, said: "We can now concentrate on the business 100 per cent without any of the distractions that a diverse shareholder base brings."

Rolawn's shareholder structure resulted from funds raised under the Business Expansion Scheme (BES) in the mid-1980s but two years ago the BES managers gave up their mandate and returned the shares to the more than 470 UK and overseas shareholders.

Lloyds Development Capital investment director Andrew Ball, said: "With so many shareholders, the directors had to effect a deal that would not have looked out of place in the boardroom of a medium-sized plc."

Although the company, which employs 80 people, has no immediate expansion plans, sales and marketing director Terry Ryan says it is receiving queries from all over the world and is especially pleased with the strong interest from mainland Europe.

"Really we have no immediate plans for any radical changes," he said.

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