Manufacturer completes MBO after private equity deal
Birmingham based bakeware manufacturer Arc Specialist Engineering has undergone a management buy-out supported by private equity funding.
Mobeus Equity Partners has backed the management team at the firm, which is part of the former Metalrax group.
The investment is Mobeus’s latest and largest from its recently raised institutional fund. It is also the firm’s fourth in the 12 months since the fund’s first close.
Arc is Europe’s largest producer of high quality non-stick coated steel for the bakeware industry through its Wolverhampton based division, Cooper Coated Coil. In addition, it is the UK market leader in the production of rolled steel products for the fenestration industry through its EWS division, also based in Wolverhampton.
The company was owned by Greybull Capital, which acquired Arc in 2013 when the AIM-listed business lapsed into administration.
Greybull’s acquisition secured the jobs of the company’s 400 employees and further investment has helped support the turnaround of the business.
As part of the turnaround plan, Greybull helped Arc focus on its core businesses, disposed of non-core units and made strategic acquisitions to further strengthen the business.
Mobeus said it now intended to back the business on the next stage of its growth.
Arc’s senior management team includes Chief Executive Officer Andy Richardson – the former CEO of Metalrax, Group Finance Director Chris Manamley, CCC’s Managing Director Kevin Tranter and the Managing Director of EWS, Merv Richards.
Industry veteran Nick Ward will assume the position of Chairman of Arc on completion. The deal was introduced to Mobeus by Ray Harris of Odyssey Corporate Finance, who represented the management in the transaction.
Richard Babington, the Mobeus Partner who led the transaction said: “We are delighted to be backing an extremely high quality team at Arc. I am incredibly excited about the potential for the group to develop its market leading positions by continuing to invest in the expansion of its operations.”
Mr Richardson added: “We are delighted to partner with Mobeus in this investment. Arc is a company that is ambitious and this investment will facilitate further growth. We partnered with Mobeus because of their ethos of taking an open and clear approach and delivering on promises.”
He said Arc now intended to pursue new markets and seek additional acquisitions.
Greybull partner Nathaniel Meyohas said: “We are very pleased with such a successful outcome. This is testament to Arc’s dedicated team, as well as a demonstration of Greybull’s ability to bring its expertise to bear to achieve the right outcome.
Freddie Bacon and Dominic Draysey also worked on the transaction for Mobeus, while RBS Invoice Finance provided bank debt for the deal.
Mobeus was advised on the transaction by Gowling WLG (Andy Stylianou, Ragi Singh, Neil Hendron, Navin Prabhakar), Mazars (Julian Clough, Adam Foster), CIL Management Consultants (Jon Whiteman, Laurence Ludgate), Cadence Advisory (Karl Holmes, John Weedon), BDO (Alistair Kirkbright) and Highwire Consulting (Annie Gray, Sandra Aldridge).
Odyssey Corporate Finance and the Arc management were advised by Higgs and Sons (John Heaton and Jody Webb).
