Ralph Martindale & Company Limited was first registered in England in 1874, whilst The Chillington Tool Company Limited was registered in England in 1892 and was acquired by Ralph Martindale & Company Limited in 1998.
Martindale and Chillington are collectively referred to as the Martindale Group. Listed on the stock exchange twice during its lifetime, the company was more recently privately owned by its 200 individual shareholders.
The Martindale Group has over 140 years’ experience in producing and marketing hand tools that are used in agriculture, hardware, construction, and horticulture. Martindale and Chillington “Crocodile” brand tools have been, and still are, recognized throughout the world as the benchmark for quality by generations of farmers and general users.
With companies based in the United Kingdom, Asia, and West Africa, the Group is strategically placed to serve all parts of the world and ensure that the “Crocodile” brand will continue to deliver superior product quality over a wide range of hand tools, and satisfy current as well as future market needs.
Rockworth, led by Lawrence Price, was delighted to act for the company and its shareholders in its sale to the Yeshi Group, an industrial conglomerate comprising 10 companies spread across 8 African countries, managing to complete a lengthy and complex process due to the international nature of both companies on 29 May 2020.
Acting for the company as legal advisors were Osborne Clarke, led by Mark Spinner.