Wilton Group deal completes thanks to Yorkshire advisers

YORKSHIRE advisers have played a key role in a management buyout of Teesside-based Wilton Group.

Accountants KPMG and law firm Pinsent Masons advised on the deal, which sees Barclays Private Equity (BPE) invest £16m in the company as a siginifcant minority stake.

Wilton, which comprises of three main business units, provides project management, design, fabrication, installation and testing services for the energy sector.

It offers fully integrated turnkey packages across a range of onshore and offshore engineering sectors.

Wilton Engineering, which is located on a 50-acre site in Middlesbrough, focuses on large, technically demanding fabrications and associated services for the subsea, marine, offshore, nuclear and renewable energy industries.

Universal, which is also based in Middlesbrough, provides high-quality surface preparation, coating and painting services to the offshore, sub-sea and power industries.

Steve O’Hare, director at Barclays Private Equity in the North, said: “Over recent years, Wilton has grown both organically and via acquisition to become one of the UK’s leading providers of project management, design and fabrication to the dynamic energy sector.”

A team from the Leeds office of KPMG Corporate Finance including Christian Mayo, Xavier Woodward and Graham Pearce provided corporate finance advice to BPE.

Mr Mayo, partner at KPMG Corporate Finance, said: “Wilton Engineering Services is a fantastic business operating in a competitive UK offshore oil and gas sector.

“This investment will not only help the business to deliver its ambitious growth plans over the coming few years, but will allow it to further capitalise on existing projects in the North Sea and further afield.”

Peter Wood and James Fitzgibbon from the Leeds office of Pinsent Masons and Gregg Davison from the firm’s Manchester office provided legal advice to BPE.

Nigel Williams and Joanne Lavery of Dickson Dees in Teesside provided legal advice to Wilton.