Aerospace firm successfully sold out of administration

WORCESTERSHIRE aerospace supplier Blade Tooling Ltd and Blade Technology Ltd has been sold out of administration in a deal that secures the jobs of more than 60 workers.

KPMG said it had successfully negotiated the sale of the Pershore business to Gardner Group Ltd, which is owned by venture capitalist Jon Moulton’s turnaround specialist Better Capital.

Blade specialises in the manufacture and supply of complex aerofoil tooling, ceramic cores and wax mouldings to the aerospace and industrial gas turbine markets.

The Gardner directors said they believed the acquisition of Blade would strengthen a number of Gardner’s own commercial relationships, and that by using Gardner’s existing infrastructure, systems and network Blade would significantly improve its own performance.

Gardner, based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, is the UK’s largest independently owned supplier of metallic aerospace details and sub-assemblies, and is one of the largest in Europe. It has six manufacturing sites in the UK and two in Poland. Gardner’s customers include Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GKN, BAE Systems and other major international companies in the aviation sector.

Phil Lewis, chief executive of Gardner Group, said: “Gardner is very pleased to complete this acquisition and believe Blade is a business with great potential that will broaden Gardner’s relationships with strategically important customers.”
 
Will Wright and Mark Orton of KPMG were appointed joint administrators on December 23 and continued to trade the business while seeking a buyer.

Mr Wright said: “This is a great outcome for the business which has a good track record but has found itself in difficulty due to the tough trading conditions brought about by the recession.

“Once again this is an example of an investor acquiring a fundamentally sound business and being prepared to invest both funds and time in an operation.”

The acquisition of the business, which will now trade as Gardner Blade, was funded by Better Capital, which acquired Gardner in February 2010.

Blade Tooling Company employed 58 people; Blade Technology, eight. The acquisition has resulted in six people being redundant.