Puma Private Equity, the private equity division of Puma Investments, has closed an investment of GBP3.6 million into Dymag Group, the British designer and manufacturer of carbon hybrid automotive wheels.
Established in 1974, the company is a pioneer in carbon wheel technology and expects a record 2019, with the investment fuelling its global growth plans.
Puma Private Equity advises Puma Investments on discretionary funding to SMEs across all sectors, and partners with SME management teams to accelerate growth and help businesses achieve their potential. So far this year, funds managed by Puma Investments have invested GBP25 million into seven companies.
Tommy O’Sullivan, Managing Director at Puma Private Equity, says: “Dymag is positively disrupting the automotive wheel market with its new carbon wheel products. Significant investment in its products and processes has strengthened the business and allowed the team to build on the brand’s long-standing motorcycle racing heritage. The company is now well-placed to accelerate growth and establish itself as the global leader in this niche market.”
Dymag, which employs 32 skilled staff at its base in Chippenham, Wiltshire is set to expand its operations with a move to larger premises in early 2019 and the creation of a significant number of jobs across its design and production capabilities. This investment will help accelerate development of the company’s product pipelines and bring further innovation to its manufacturing processes to meet growing demand for carbon hybrid technology. The British firm currently works with several of the world’s leading performance original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and has a growing aftermarket presence with regional strategic partners.
Chris Shelley, CEO of Dymag, says: “Following a comprehensive search for the right partner to help us at this stage of our development, we chose to work with Puma Private Equity given the team’s understanding of technology and manufacturing, plus their long-standing commitment to supporting British businesses.”
“We continue our goal of making Dymag the technology of choice available anywhere in the world. Working with strategically chosen partners enables us to tune our products and business model to the needs of each market. In North America we have partnered with Forgeline, Brixton and ADV.1 to bring our technology to market with performance and luxury wheel brands who know what their customers want. We have products in the pipeline for automobiles and motorcycles that serve OEM, aftermarket and tuner markets. And our commitment to racing and performance applications is unwavering.”
Building on its impressive history of innovation and technology in motorsport, Dymag launched the first commercial carbon motorcycle wheel in 1996 and the first carbon hybrid automotive wheel in 2004. Following the growing popularity of electric and hybrid engines and the search to optimise efficiencies in petrol and diesel technology, there has been an increasing flight to carbon. As testament to this, leading brands including BMW, Rolls Royce, Porsche, McLaren and Ford have all launched carbon wheel programmes in recent years. Dymag is well placed to direct this shift, with the support from Puma Private Equity helping the brand position itself for future growth.
