Yorkshire lawyers on Ainscough deal
YORKSHIRE advisers have helped complete a deal that sees crane hire firm Ainscough bought by Goldman Sachs an an arm of private equity firm TPG.
The banking team at Leeds law firm Walker Morris, led by Michael Taylor, advised Ainscough on a £100m financing deal that was part of the transaction.
Wigan-based Ainscough was sold by the Ainscough family to the now defunct Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance for £255m in 2007. As the construction sector has continued to struggle, sales have shrunk and in July the company posted a £70m loss.
The new owner of Bradley Hall Holdings, Ainscough’s parent company, is affiliates of TPG Special Situations Partners and Goldman Sachs. The vendor was Caird Capital, a joint venture between Lloyds Bank and Coller Capital.
The new funding is a a £105m Asset Based Lending Facility from Burdale Financial, GE Capital and RBS Invoice Finance (RBS IF).
In a statement the new owners said the funding is being used to support “the company’s recent balance sheet restructuring.
“This includes strengthening the financial position of the group following a recapitalisation of its balance sheet and the conversion of legacy debt into equity.”
Neil Partridge, managing director at Ainscough stated: “The TPG and Goldman Sachs partnership brings extensive experience in the sector to Ainscough. Our new owners are extremely resourceful and they will encourage our strategic thinking to further develop and grow the business.
“The restructuring of our balance sheet sees the group with a more appropriate capital structure and one that can more than support the growth and business objectives in the medium and longer term.
“The new ABL facility recognises the strength of our business and the quality of our asset base. We view the support that we have received from the ABL Syndicate as a vote of confidence in the company’s strategic growth plan.
“The new facilities will enable us to continue with our strategic aim to increase market share and extend our market leading position as new opportunities in the energy and renewables sectors continue apace.”
Judith McMath of Burdale Financial, Neil Kerridge of GE Capital and Andy Pickford of RBS IF added: “Ainscough is a long established, high quality, market leading business with an excellent management team and we are all delighted to be involved as funders for the new facility.
“The package provides the company with liquidity to underwrite its four year plan and we look forward to building a long term relationship with the management team.”
Founded in 1976, Ainscough employs 970 people nationally and operates from 28 bases.
Other advisers included Nigel Birkett, debt advisory partner at Deloitte in Manchester.
