WFEL’s £10m boost after refinance deal
THE private equity owner of North West military bridge marker WFEL has refinanced the business – which has released an extra £10m for growth.
Dunedin, which bought the Stockport-based business in 2006 for £48m said it had raised WFEL’s banking facilities from £20m to £30m to help fund working capital needed for recent contract wins.
The company is a key supplier to the US and British armies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
As part of the refinancing Dunedin, has replaced collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander with Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets acquisition finance. Barclays was retained in the banking syndicate.
WFEL is expanding to accommodate a recent five-year contract to repair and refurbish US deployed mobile military bridges.
This year it won an £18m contract to supply eight Dry Support Bridges to the US Department of Defense.
Dougal Bennett, the director of Dunedin on the board of WFEL said: “According to the CBI’s latest figures UK manufacturers continue to experience testing times, WFEL however is thriving.
“Other wins include contracts from the UK Ministry of Defence and the Turkish Government. WFEL is on track to achieve close to £40m of sales to December 2009 up from £29.6m in 2008.”
News of the refinancing was contained in WFEL’s annual accounts filed this week. Founded in 1915, Heaton Chapel-based WFEL employs around 80 people. In 2008 it made £5.7m of profit on sales of £29.5m.
Parent company WFEL Holdings Ltd made a profit of £966,000 after paying interest of £3.4m on group debt of £36m.
