Member Article

LDC aims £300m at manufacturers and engineers

Private equity firm LDC has increased its investment pot to £300m, after an initial £200m was opened up in October 2011.

The firm, which has a Manchester office, said engineering and manufacturing businesses will be the focus of this cash injection.

LDC said it has completed 11 deals with manufacturers and engineering companies since 2011 to the tune of £190m.

A further £100m has since been added to the total investment available, and will focus on mid-market UK businesses worth between £10m and £150m.

LDC also said they hope to support niche companies in particular, such as those in aerospace and power generation, which have featured strongly in the commitment to date.

LDC’s director in the North West, Ged Gould, said: “Having successfully invested more than £190million of new funding into specialist engineering and manufacturing businesses in the first 18 months of this initiative, we have decided to further increase our commitment to the sector by taking our investment target to £300million.

“Our initial investment initiative to back high quality manufacturing and specialist engineering businesses has been incredibly successful, but we believe that there is a great deal more potential to support businesses in this sector so we have decided to uplift this funding in order that more companies can benefit.

LDC carried out research that projected a positive outlook for manufacturers, with more than 50% reporting turnover growth in the past year and 85% expecting growth next year.

Transactions carried out by LDC included; the tertiary management buyout of control valves business Bifold Group in Middleton, its investment in Heywood-based high security barrier systems manufacturer ATG Access, and the management buyout of Manchester’s Airline Services Components.

The firm also said it recently completed its reinvestment in Bury-based international aerospace engineering group, MB Aerospace, following its exit through a secondary management buyout in March 2013.

Mr Gould added: “By increasing our commitment to invest £300million of new capital to this important industry sector, LDC is reiterating its commitment to, and on-going confidence in, UK manufacturing.

“LDC’s network of offices across the UK ensures that we are able to effectively tap into the richness of the manufacturing environment in numerous sub regions.

“This increase in funding will give LDC’s regional teams greater scope to explore investment opportunities with fast growing manufacturing and specialist engineering businesses and we hope more management teams will consider the benefits that partnering with a private equity investor like LDC can bring.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .