Industrial seals maker sold for £35m

A £21m turnover industrial seals business has been bought by a US engineering company for £35m.

Blackburn-based Seals has been acquired by New York Stock Exchange-listed company Idex Corporation.

Illinois-based Idex will add Seals to its health and Cece technologies business.
Seals, which consists of the Polymer Engineering and Perlast divisions, is a manufacturer and supplier of  high performance seals for a diverse range of global industries, including analytical instrumentation, semiconductor/solar and process technologies. 
 
Idex chairman and chief executive Larry Kingsley stated, “With their specialty formulations and unique molding capability, Seals offers highly engineered solutions to several of our target markets.

“Not only does Seals extend our offering with existing OEMs in the life sciences markets, they provide significant access to new opportunities in clean technology, food and pharmaceutical research and processing.”

Seals managing director, Peter Cloney, said the sale represents “the start of a new growth phase” for the company.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to join a company clearly focused on growth which is well placed to enhance our market coverage and support us in becoming a world-leading sealing solutions business,” he added 

Law firm Pinsent Masons and accountancy firm Mazars advised the shareholders of Seals.

The Pinsent Masons team was led by corporate partner Catherine Hemsworth assisted by Andrew Kerr, Manisha Patel (corporate), Alison Walker (tax), Helen Peters (environmental) and Kate Derbyshire (employment).

John Holroyd, Rob Burton and Ian Archibald of Mazars provided corporate finance and tax advice.