PATISSERIE UK, a Scottish specialist cake and dessert manufacturer, has been sold to its management for an undisclosed cash sum.

The buyer is Rock Cake, a company set up by Johnnie Roden, the managing director, who says it will "act as a vehicle for the future".

The seller is Enterprise Foods run by David Beattie.

Other members of the MBO team are Ian McMillan, operations director since January 2000, and Ian Steven, a Patisserie UK non-executive director since 1999.

Based in Livingston, West Lothian, since December 1999, Patisserie UK employs 50 skilled staff producing handmade bakery and dessert products primarily for the food-service sector.

Among its clients are Whitbread, Compass and Macdonald Hotels.

In the 18 months to July 2005, it reported sales of GBP5.2m. The MBO involved Bank of Scotland, accountants Scott-Moncrieff and law firm McClure Naismith.

Roden said: "Ian McMillan and I are delighted that David and Enterprise Food Group have given us this opportunity to acquire the company.

"We look forward to continuing to deliver good profitable growth for the business, by successfully understanding and developing our customer base, and creating innovative handmade products."

Beattie commented: "I am extremely pleased to be able to sell the company to the management team, and especially to Johnnie, who I brought in to head up the business when Enterprise bought it in 2001."

This sale of Enterprise's last bakery manufacturing operation would allow Beattie to focus on fast-tracking the growth of the company's e-commerce bakery supply business.