In Brief: Equistone; Decormax; Getech; Fenner
YORKSHIRE lawyers have advised on Equistone Partners’ sale of Aberdeen-based PD&MS which provides design and engineering services to the oil and gas industry.
It has been bought by a management team backed by Inflexion private equity. The value was not disclosed but Equistone said it had nearly trebled its money.
Equistone first invested in 2010 when it put £16m into the Wilton Group which owned PD&MS as well as Wilton Engineering Services and Universal Coatings. In May 2013 it invested a further £4m to take a majority stake in PD&MS and at the same time the two other businesses were sold to their management teams. PD&MS has 200 staff and generated revenues of £47m in 2013.
A Leeds-based team from Eversheds – Robin Skelton, Jonathan Pollard and Becky Ashworth – advised Inflexion on the deal. Skelton said: “Having previously advised Inflexion on oil and gas sector investments including both Viking Moorings and SMD, we have again drawn on both our private equity and our oil and gas sector expertise to assist Inflexion on their latest investment which also saw Equistone make a successful exit. We wish PD&MS well under its new ownership structure as it targets international expansion opportunities.”
PwC provided corporate finance advice, while Pinsent Masons provided legal advice to PD&MS. Deloitte provided financial due diligence to the company, while tax due diligence was handled by Deloitte.
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DECORMAX has purchased and moved into new premises in Wakefield.
The firm distributes decorative sheet materials, worktops, laminates and associated products to customers throughout the UK from its three depots in Wakefield, Leicester and Bishops Stortford. The business also operates a fleet of vehicles.
In addition to the depot, the property located on New Brunswick Street, Thornes, Wakefield includes facilities for Decormax’s head office and two new jobs have been created. The site has recently undergone a complete refurbishment as part of the move. Funding support was given by NatWest.
Eric Johnson, director of Decormax, said: “We had been renting in Wakefield but found we wanted something of our own to assist with our business development. We will be saving money with mortgage repayments instead of paying rent which always increases, and at the end of the repayment period we will own the property which is an asset to the business. The site is also located in a convenient area for our customer base.”
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GETECH, the Leeds-based oil exploration company, has signed further clients to fund its new global multi-satellite gravity project.
In July 2013, the company announced that it had funding in excess of £500,000 to commence a global roll-out of the CryoSat pilot study. Now, additional sponsors of the global project have brought the total funding to more than £1m. This project is due to run over a three year period to June 2016, with the majority of this income to be recognised over the next two financial years.
Getech’s chief executive, Raymond Wolfson, said: “We now have six sponsors for the global roll-out of this project. Based on over twenty years of satellite altimetry processing we have developed methods to combine data from multiple satellites to provide increased resolution gravity data over marine areas. This adds significant value to geological interpretation using the data and therefore benefits hydrocarbon exploration.”
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CONVEYOR belt and reinforced polymer manufacturer Fenner today said it is pressing ahead with its restructuring plans in response to challenging markets.
The Hessle-based group is dealing with a weak market for coal in the USA and lower commodity prices for minerals in Australia which is affecting orders for belting from mining companies.
It said the performance of its Advanced Engineering Products business has continued to be encouraging, with trading across the division having been in line with expectations.
