WFEL swallowed by German defence group
WFEL, the military bridge manufacturer, has been sold to German defence group Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) in a deal worth more than £60m
The Stockport-based company, which won TheBusinessDesk.com’s North West Business Masters Manufacturer award last month, is seen as a strategic bolt-on acquisition for the Munich-based company, which has annual sales of €930m.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. WFEL, originally founded as Fairey Aviation in 1915, has been owned since 2006 by private equity group Dunedin. It has just less than 230 staff and counts 40 armed forces around the world as customers.
Since the £48m Dunedin deal WFEL has grown sales by around 70% to £36m in 2011.
WFEL’s bridges are used to help forces or emergency services cross hard-to-access terrain. It has produced the Dry Support Bridge (DSB) for use by US forces in Iraq and has developed a lightweight ski-jump runway designed to support the launch of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
WFEL’s executive team, led by CEO Ian Wilson, are staying with the business post acquisition.
Mr Wilson hailed the deal as a “transformational step” in the company’s history.
“Joining the KMW group creates an exciting opportunity to leverage its significant global presence, to provide an enhanced range of complementary solutions to our combined customer base across the globe and pool our advanced engineering expertise.
“It is also a huge vote of confidence in the quality of WFEL’s products and people, who have helped the company to become a recognised global leader in its market.”
KMW, employs more than 3,000 peoplke and has operations in Brazil, Greece, the Netherlands, Mexico, Singapore, the US and Turkey. It specialises in the design and manufacture of armoured military vehicles and its portfolio includes the Leopard battle tank. The WFEL deal is its first in the UK.
Chief executive and president Frank Haun said: ““WFEL is a perfect strategic fit with our existing operations. Our combined product suite provides a modern, innovative, technically advanced and comprehensive solution to meet the needs of today’s military forces.
“WFEL also shares a similar engineering heritage and commitment to excellence, which gives the two companies a strong cultural fit.
“We are very excited about the prospects for the future as we develop new ways of collaborating for the benefit of our customers around the world.”
Dougal Bennett, partner at Dunedin who sat on the WFEL board, said: “WFEL has proven to be a real hidden champion of a business, with a market leading product, world leading engineering skills and a highly respected management team.
“WFEL now has some very exciting opportunities open to it and we thank the management team for their dedication and hard work during our period of ownership.”
Dunedin said the sale has realised a multiple of 2.4x on its original investment.
Advisers to Dunedin were PwC led by Stuart Warriner and law firm Pinsent Masons led by partner Gregg Davison. Law firms Travers Smith (UK) and Oppenhoff (Germany) advised KMW.
