Maven Capital Partners (Maven), one of the UK’s most active Private Equity houses, has led the management buyout (MBO) of Westfield Medical (Westfield), a leading provider of sterilisation barrier products to the healthcare and industrial sectors.
The GBP12 million funding package includes an equity raise from ‘Maven Investor Partners’, a syndicate of institutional, family office and high net worth investors, which will help support the forecast growth of the company.
The ever increasing focus on sterile environments in international healthcare and specialist manufacturing sectors, combined with increased healthcare spend in terms of GDP per capita, is expected to ensure strong future demand in Westfield’s core market.
Westfield has an excellent reputation for the quality of its products and services, and has long standing customer relationships. The customer base includes NHS trusts and private hospitals, as well as supplying products for use by medical device manufacturers. It is now one of the leading suppliers into the European market, and is also widely diversified internationally; with markets in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas accounting for almost half its annual revenues.
Westfield is a well-invested manufacturing platform. This follows the completion in late 2015 of a transformational GBP1.2 million reorganisation and capex investment project, which increased production capacity significantly, provided new warehouse facilities and upgraded much of the plant and machinery.
The MBO team, led by MD Patrick Sparkes, are very excited by the opportunity to drive top-line growth supported by the new facilities. Maven’s investment will allow the business to increase production and significantly expand its international market footprint. It will also provide Maven investors with the opportunity to generate attractive returns from a niche healthcare business operating in a sector where there has been strong M&A activity.
Andrew Ferguson, Partner at Maven, says: "We are excited to be backing this ambitious management team. Westfield is a successful, long established business with a market leading reputation for high quality products and excellent customer service, operating in a market that offers significant growth opportunities both in the UK and overseas. The business is well placed to drive further growth following significant investment in recent years, and we look forward to working closely with Patrick Sparkes and the senior team to achieve their growth plan.”
Patrick Sparkes, Managing Director at Westfield Medical, adds: "We’re really looking forward to working with the Maven team, whose experience in supporting the growth of businesses like ours make them the ideal funding partner for accelerating our growth plans. This funding provides the resource to achieve the next phase in our development, and we would recommend Maven to any management team considering a future buy-out.”
