Chinese investors eye up West Midlands manufacturer

TWO Chinese industrial groups are said to be eyeing a bid for Staffordshire engineering giant Doncasters.

According to reports, the Yinyi Group and Impro, both of which employ thousands of people across the world, are putting together takeover packages for the Burton upon Trent company.

Doncasters’ owners have been looking to sell for some time and have employed Goldman Sachs to find a buyer. At the moment, say reports, offers of interest are “tenative” and no concrete bids have been made.

Doncasters can trace its routes back to 1778 and employs 5,000 people. The firm manufactures performance and tolerance critical engineered components for a variety of applications in the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, specialist automotive, petrochemical, construction, industrial, and transportation markets.

Other interested bidders include private equity firms Blackstone, Carlyle and Clayton Dubilier & Rice.

Doncasters is already in foreign ownership after being sold in 2006 to Dubai International Capital – a private investment firm owned by that country’s ruling family, which is now being wound down.

In its last filed results Doncasters made a pre-tax profit of £136m.