Norton Rose Fulbright advises One Equity Partners on Kitwave Group acquisition

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright is advising One Equity Partners on the recommended cash acquisition of Kitwave Group plc, a leading UK-based delivered wholesale food distributor.

The transaction, which values Kitwave at approximately £251 million, is being implemented by way of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement and was announced on January 22, 2026.

One Equity Partners is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors. The firm has completed over 400 transactions and seeks to build market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. One Equity Partners has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

Kitwave is a delivered wholesale business, specialising in selling and delivering impulse products, frozen, chilled and fresh foods, alcohol, groceries and tobacco to approximately 46,000, mainly independent, customers.

Norton Rose Fulbright is advising One Equity Partners on all aspects of the transaction, including M&A, financing, regulatory, competition, tax, employment, real estate, intellectual property, data protection and environmental matters.

Jamal Tuhin, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, commented:

"We are pleased to have advised One Equity Partners on this significant transaction. Kitwave is a high-quality business with a strong management team and a compelling growth strategy, and this acquisition reflects One Equity Partners' continued focus on investing in market-leading companies with clear buy-and-build potential."

The Norton Rose Fulbright team advising One Equity Partners was led by partners Jamal Tuhin and Kit McCarthy in London, supported by a multi-disciplinary team from across the firm. The team included partners James Collis (banking), Jamie Cooke (antitrust, competition and regulatory), Matthew Findley (incentives), Dominic Stuttaford (tax), Andrew Reeves (ABC/AML), Wasim Khan (real estate) and Lucy Bruce Jones (environment, safety and planning).

The team also included counsel Alex Green (corporate), Ben Wright (employment) and Nick Howard (employment); senior associates Alex Collerton (banking), Kimberley Lyons (banking), Juliette Kelly (real estate) and Claudia Van Gruisen (ABC/AML); and associates Hobz De Caux (corporate), Adam Leigh (corporate), Angelina Lim-Jordan (corporate), Sasha Norman (banking), Hamza Faridy (banking), Alex Mann (tax), Ed Spilman (incentives), Freya Reevell (antitrust, competition and regulatory), Tobi Bello (real estate), Sam Pearson (real estate), Swaathi Balajawahar (intellectual property), Polina Maloshchinskaia (data protection) and Ewan-Nize Gerber (ABC/AML).