Jarvis Walker is to further expand its presence in the European market with the acquisition of Masterline International.  Relatively unknown outside the Southern Hemisphere, Jarvis Walker is the largest supplier to the Australian market and are one of the world’s largest suppliers of fishing tackle outside of Japan and the USA.  It is intended to change the name of the company to Masterline Walker Limited.

Commenting on the deal Trevor Maundrell, CEO of Jarvis Walker, explained “Jarvis Walker has shown consistent growth in recent years and is now looking for new opportunities to maintain that growth. Having established operations in South Africa and New Zealand the logical progression is to open distribution channels in the Northern Hemisphere.  The opportunity to acquire Masterline builds on long-standing relationships extending back to the days when we were both subsidiary operations of Ryobi”.

Dick Tallents, Managing Director of Masterline, added “This is a very good deal for Masterline.  Jarvis Walker has built a superb infrastructure with warehousing and purchasing teams in place in China and Vietnam which will ensure prompt delivery all the year around. We expect that the deal will significantly expand Masterline’s product range as we take in products from the Jarvis Walker portfolio and begin to develop products through the Jarvis Walker supply chain”.  Mr Tallents also noted that, in line with Jarvis Walkers investment strategy, Masterline management have taken the opportunity to acquire a shareholding in Masterline.

The web trading company Sportsmail Limited (which trades as Harris Sportsmail) is specifically excluded from the deal and remains a wholly owned subsidiary of
the Cortland Line Company.

Under the deal Masterline’s relationship with the Cortland Line Company remains central with Masterline retaining distribution of Cortland flylines in the UK and with Jarvis Walker’s sourcing expertise being brought into play.