The Garden Centre Group has acquired the Garden & Leisure Group from Louis Delhaize, which also owns leading French garden centre group Truffaut.
The purchase adds seven large garden centres in prime locations to the group's existing portfolio of 132 centres, and is the first acquisition of a major chain of garden centres since GCG came under the ownership last year of Terra Firma, one of Europe's leading private equity firms.

Earlier this month TGCG announced that it had bought the Cheddar and Lechlade Garden Centres from Park Garden Centres. It also acquired Barton Grange's Bolton garden centre earlier this year.

In a statement on the latest deal, TGCG chief executive Kevin Bradshaw said: "We're absolutely delighted to welcome the Garden & Leisure Group into our portfolio. Adding these unique, destination stores to our group represents a major milestone in our ambitious growth plans, and the seven centres, in strong catchment areas, complement our existing estate well.

"We're excited about the opportunity to expand and develop our offering and plan to invest in and develop all seven sites into flagship garden centres for our group."

TGCG declined to comment further, but a source close to the company told DIY Week that Garden & Leisure Group's new owner would be looking specifically to strengthen the leisure side of the seven centres' business.

"That's one of the reasons this acquisition is a strategic fit for TGCG, because it gives them the opportunity to bolster their leisure offering," he said. "It'll be things like the food and beverage side of the business, for example. And there's a difference between a nursery and a garden centre, so it's about emphasising all those things that make a garden centre. That's the sort of thing that creates an experience for families."

At this stage it is unclear whether the Garden & Leisure Group's centres - Barnett Hill, Endsleigh, Cadbury, Huntingdon, Gardenlands, Melbicks and Percy Thrower's - will retain their names, and no decisions have yet been made regarding any staff or management changes as a result of the acquisition.

However, it was announced last week that operations director Carol Paris has been appointed as full time permanent HTA chief executive with immediate effect. Ms Paris was first appointed HTA director general last August on a part-time basis. She continued her role as operations director at Garden & Leisure for an extended period in order to ensure a smooth handover.

Said the source: "They need to look into staffing but it's far too early. There are a number of legal things that need to take place, and that will take months."

Commenting on the deal, Guy Hands, chairman and chief investment officer of Terra Firma, said: "Terra Firma is committed to supporting the execution of TGCG's strategy, one of the key pillars of which is increasing the size of the group. We've been actively seeking high quality acquisition opportunities and today's Garden & Leisure Group deal is a very good fit both with the existing TGCG estate, and our strategic vision for growing the leisure side of the business."

Garden & Leisure Group was formed in 1997 by Truffaut and the founders of Cadbury Garden Centre, Kenn and Jackie Lloyd. Its annual turnover is around £40m.