An £85 million transaction has seen Pizza Hut UK owner Rutland Partners invest in Maplin.

The business, which is now over 40 years old, has 210 stores in the UK selling consumer electronics products. CEO John Cleland has led it since 2012, when a new management team was brought on board to represent a change in direction for the company.

Since that time, Maplin has invested in bolstering the in-store experience as well as refreshing its web platform.

Cleland says, ‘Our strategic plans for Maplin represent substantial growth in sales and profit, continuing on the journey already mapped out that focuses on improved customer experience in all key channels, substantially broadening our range of products and innovation, and investing in our ability to offer the best electronics and technical advice to our customers.’

Rutland Partners, which also counts household goods business CeDo and financial services company Buy As You View as active investments, is supported in the deal by Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance. The deal is the first to be closed through its Rutland Fund III.

Fellow private equity firm Montagu Private Equity is exiting its interest in Maplin through the deal. In 2004, Montagu bought a 67 per cent stake in Maplin from Graphite Capital for £244 million.

Rutland managing partner Nick Morrill comments, ‘We believes our history and the focus f our investment strategy differentiates us in the private equity market.

‘It makes us a powerful and supportive investment partner, able to make a real difference to the success of Maplin and we are excited by the challenge in front of us all.’