Engineering group takes 50% stake in fellow Lancashire firm
ENGINEERING company WEC Group has acquired a 50% stake in Submarine Manufacturing & Products.
The deal follows the Darwen, Lancashire-based company’s multi-million pound acquisition of Coventry-based HTA Group, announced two weeks ago.
WEC Group, one of the UK’s largest engineering and fabrication companies, has today completed a deal which sees the Coventry-based HTA Group join its growing family of businesses.
Nick Pickup, associate Solicitor of Forbes’ Corporate and Restructuring team, based in Central Lancashire, acted on behalf of WEC in the latest joint venture.
He said: “Between the two companies they have a wealth of specialised skills, knowledge and expertise in relation to manufacturing and production and the joint venture will allow the two to combine their strengths and maximise growth.”
The addition of Preston-based SMP to WEC’s ranks will provide a host of benefits to the company thanks to their wealth of complex products on offer, including diver decompression chambers, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, breathing air compressors, and commercial diving helmets amongst many others.
Both WEC Group and the 40-strong SMP will gain access to each other’s expertise and skills, thus strengthening operations further and facilitating both businesses’ long term investment and growth strategies.
Already a key supply chain partner of SMP, WEC Group specialises in the fabrication and manufacture of a wide range of metal structures and welded assemblies including Rail Gantries, CCTV Structures, bus frames, armoured vehicles hulls, vacuum coolers, or pressure vessels to ASME standards.
Steve Hartley managing director of WEC Group, said: “SMP and WEC Group have had a longstanding business relationship and there is a very good strategic fit between the two businesses.”
“The two companies have entered into a joint venture arrangement in which WEC Group will bring increased engineering and business expertise to SMP, paving the way to future growth and building on the foundations laid down by SMP over the last thirty years.”
