2010, it was announced that DFS had been sold to private equity firm Advent International for a reported £500 million. DFS then acquired two smaller British retailers which had been struggling in the market: Sofa Workshop in 2013 and Dwell in August 2014. On 6 March 2015, the company floated on the London Stock Exchange again as DFS Furniture plc. In October 2017, DFS announced they had purchased one of their competitors, Sofology (formerly Sofaworks and CSL) in a £25 million deal. The acquisition was ratified by the Competition and Markets Authority in November 2017. Marketing For many years in the 1980s and 1990s, actor Tom Adams was the face of DFS's television advertisements. In December 2008, one television commercial by DFS was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, following complaints that the company had doctored the footage to inflate the perceived size of their sofas, relative to the actors. The advert featured actors miming Nickelback's "Rockstar", while playing air guitar in front of the sofas. That month, the advert was also given the distinction as one of the worst adverts of all time. Acquisitions Furniture businesses of Wyefield Group (June 1999, £1.5 million) Sofa Workshop Sofa Workshop is a furniture manufacturer and retailer of handmade furniture, offering both product and fabric customisation that DFS acquired in 2013. The furniture is handmade in Britain. As well as sofas and chairs, it also makes a range of accessories including footstools, cushions and made to measure curtains. Formerly based in Lodsworth, West Sussex, United Kingdom, it is now headquartered in Peasmarsh, Surrey. Sofa Workshop, founded by Andrew Cussins in 1985, opened its first store in Maidstone in 1986. In November 2002, Cussins sold the company to MFI Group for £12.25 million. Seen by many as a poor marriage of brands due to different customer markets when MFI ceased selling lounge furniture, Sofa Workshop was sold. It was bought in October 2006, by the New Haven Group, which then appointed an administrator in May 2008. At that stage, the company had thirty one stores in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, employing 160 people. The company had revenue amounting to £30 million in the year ending May 2008. On 31 December 2008, Sofa Workshop announced Leonard Curtis as a possible administrator. Leonard Curtis stated at the time that there had been expressions of interest in purchasing the company. It was reported on 31 January