Rubber firm looks to stretch itself with acquisition

A SHROPSHIRE rubber mouldings firm has expanded its operations with a new acquisition, in a deal advised out of the county.

DKL Rubber, of Wem, has acquired Medcraft Bryden, a Cambridgeshire-based specialist rubber engineering business in an undisclosed deal.

The company has said that “for the foreseeable future” both the Wem and Cambridgeshire sites will be maintained and it is anticipated that cross-selling will be possible across each base.  As a result of the acquisition, two additional members of staff have already been appointed to the Wem business.

Established in 1988, DKL Rubber provides high specification rubber mouldings to its growing customer base.
 
However, wishing to secure growth for the business, directors Robert and Ian Oakes looked to extend the portfolio of services and so started to consider acquiring another company.
 
Early stage discussions with Medcraft Bryden began in 2015 but it wasn’t until early 2016 that talks moved forward.  

Robert Oakes said: “We had known of Medcraft Bryden for a while and were impressed with the range of services that they offered, believing that these would be a good fit with the work we already carried out at DKL.
 
“However, as two relatively small enterprises with day to day business commitments to focus on, it took until earlier this year for those conversations to really start focusing on the desired result.”

Legal advice on the transaction was from Stuart Rea, of FBC Manby Bowdler’s corporate team.
 
Mr Rea added: “Robert and Ian’s acquisition of Medcraft Bryden, a firm three times their own size, places them in a very favourable position to not only extend the reach of each businesses’ distinct product and service portfolios, but also prepares them for further growth which I don’t doubt we’ll see from them in the coming years.”