Member Article

Regional experts advise on Mill Masters MBO

Experts from two local firms, alongside funders NatWest have teamed up to assist the management of specialist engineering firm Mill Masters International with its buyout from US parent Mill Masters Inc.

Teams from MHA Tait Walker led by Michael Smith, and The Endeavour Partnership led by Nigel Williams, helped guide management team Chris Harford and Peter Chappell through the buyout process, while the company’s bank, NatWest provided the facilities to enable the buyout to proceed.

Between them, Chris and Peter have over 50 years’ experience in the automotive heat exchanger sector, and they are both looking forward to further developing MMI as an independent business.

Formed in 2014, MMI employs a team of highly-skilled engineers and designers to design, manufacture, commission and supply heat exchanger assembly machines and associated equipment, predominantly to the automotive and HVAC sectors.

“We will continue to work with our US colleagues,” said Chris Harford.

“In fact we have several major projects ongoing at the moment, but we also have some exciting plans in terms of where we want to take things ourselves in the coming years.”

Peter Chappell explained: “We learned a lot during the buyout process; Michael and Nigel were excellent, and their experience and technical ability was invaluable to us in getting the deal done. The team at NatWest helped put the funding package together and were always on hand throughout to make sure the deal happened.”

“Chris and I are extremely grateful to Bill Panthofer for giving us this opportunity to develop and grow the business and we wish him and the team at MM Inc every success in the future.”

Michael Smith said “Nigel and I have a lot of deal experience. In fact we first worked together more than 20 years ago. That said, every deal is different; MMI is a fantastic local manufacturing business and Chris and Peter head up a committed, ambitious, and talented team. We wish them well for the future.”

David Robinson, Relationship Director at NatWest, said “We are delighted to support the management team in bringing this local business back into UK ownership. Mill Masters is a seasoned exporter and we wish Chris and Peter continued success.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Aranda Rahbarkouhi .