Member Article

Snorkel deal with Las Vegas manufacturer to save North East jobs

Washington-headquartered Tanfield Group has agreed a deal to sell a stake in its Snorkel Division to a US firm, protecting scores of North East jobs.

The move will see Tanfield retain a minority stake in the business while the Las Vegas based Xtreme Manufacturing will provide up to $50m working capital that Snorkel has needed to promote growth.

Tanfield had originally pursued a sale of the Snorkel business and talked with a number of interested parties earlier this year.

The substantial requirement for working capital meant an outright sale was not possible, but the Tanfield board is confident the deal with Xtreme will set Snorkel on the road to recovery and see a return to profitability.

Snorkel had been suffering inability to meet demand from customers due to constraints on working capital.

A new company, Snorkel International Holdings, has been created to manage Tanfield’s stake in the business.

Xtreme is a long standing customer of Snorkel and owner Don F. Ahern also operated Ahern Rentals Inc, one of the largest privately held equipment rental firms in the world.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .