MBO at 150-year-old Nottingham engineering firm
Nottingham-based Blackburn & Starling & Co – one of the UK’s oldest engineering companies – have been sold in an MBO to a Scottish counterpart.
RSE has bought Blackburn & Starling, which was established in 1870. In the early 20th Century, the company built its reputation on electrical lighting contracts for London’s West End theatres. Now, it is one of the UK’s largest designers and manufacturers of low and high voltage switchboards and control systems, operating from a 4.5-acre purpose-built factory in central Nottingham.
RSE’s managing director Allan Dallas said: “When added to previous acquired businesses Saftronics and TCS, the Blackburn Starling deal establishes RSE as the largest control systems capability in the UK market. The additional technical skills and manufacturing capacity will enable RSE to fulfil demand for its innovative modular treatment plants, whilst opening up new doors to customers in England and Wales.”
The deal will see RSE take a majority share in the business, backing a management buyout led by operations director, Jason Smith.
He said: “The Blackburn Starling brand has an amazing heritage, and many of our 100+ staff have served the company for multiple years. We are expecting the transition into RSE to create new opportunities to grow the business and create opportunity for our employees.
“Whilst keeping the brand and heritage of the company intact, I’m excited to more closely integrate with the RSE teams throughout the country. We believe RSE’s modular technology offering is game changing in the UK water sector, which was the management’s primary attraction to supporting the acquisition.”
RSE is owned by Envoy & Partners, whose founders are building a portfolio of industrial service groups, of which RSE is attracting significant investment. Envoy’s CEO Iain MacGregor said that Blackburn Starling was the third of four acquisitions lined up for RSE in the current year, which should take the company to over £130m in revenue. The owners plan to build a specialist technology contractor to the UK water sector with revenues exceeding £250m.
