Administrators save manufacturing group with MBO

Administrators have saved the Altec Engineering group with a management buyout, but were not able to save dozens of jobs at Yorkshire sites.

Altec, headquartered in Co. Durham, manufactures automation equipment and high precision components for aerospace and defence.

Keith Marshall and Steve Ross of RSM Restructuring Advisory were appointed joint administrators of Altec Engineering Limited on 29 June 2017.

They said that significant creditor stress had been experienced by the firm following losses last year and a debt structure “incompatible” with the level of turnover and profitability.

Altec’s engineering business and assets have subsequently sold to an MBO team.

The group also consisted of Altec Hydraulics, which had 20 employees based in North Shields and Wakefield, which entered administration on 23 June and was closed immediately.

Sigma Technologies, which had 28 employees based in Bradford, entered administration on 1 August and ceased trading on 7 August. It had expanded in the city only last year with an investment in a Quick Hydraulics site. Both Sigma and Quick operated from a 21,000 sq ft workshop on Euroway Industrial Estate. Sigma was acquired in August 2015 by Altec.

Another Altec group company, Ronco Engineering, was also sold to the same team in a solvent share transaction. The combined deal safeguards over 120 jobs in the North East of England.

Andrew Walker at Irwin Mitchell worked alongside RSM and the Administrators as the legal advisors and helped to successfully deliver a time critical transaction.

Keith Marshall, joint administrator and the RSM partner, said: “This was a challenging transaction to deliver within a tight timescale, but the deal will safeguard two regional businesses, and importantly, 120 jobs in the North East.

“Group companies’ Altec Hydraulics and Sigma Technologies Limited, also entered administration but regrettably these businesses have now ceased to trade.”

Pictured: Sigma’s Euroway Trading Estate site