Mid-market private equity house LDC has exited its investment in oil and gas engineering business Bifold Group to Rotork.
Bifold is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of valves and pumps to the oil and gas sector with sites in Manchester and Taunton, as well as Houston and Singapore. The GBP125m transaction delivers a 2.4x money return for LDC.
In 2014, Bifold moved into new ‘state-of-the-art’ 30,000 sq ft manufacturing facilities in Oldham, Greater Manchester, to increase capacity and its technical capabilities. It completed the acquisition of Orange Instruments, which offers the business access to a range of specialist control system products, in July 2014. For the financial year ending 31 August 2014, Bifold recorded revenues of GBP35.5m.
Rotork is a FTSE 250 company and operates across the controls, fluid systems, gears, instruments and site services sectors. The business, which recorded revenues approaching GBP600m for its last financial period, has made a number international acquisitions in recent years, including Korean instrument manufacturer Young Tech Co. Ltd in 2014 and Italian actuator manufacturer GT Attuatori Srl in 2013.
Gary Jacobson, CEO of Bifold, says: “Through our partnership with LDC, we have built a business that can compete globally with the best in the market. We now look forward to a new era for Bifold, as part of Rotork, as we strive to further push the boundaries of British engineering in the oil and gas sector.”
Simon Lord (pictured), managing director at Altium, adds: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Bifold management team for almost a decade and with all the Company’s shareholders, including LDC on this exit event. The oil and gas market has experienced some challenges in the last twelve months, and this transaction is a testament to the strength of the Bifold business and the ability of the Company to constantly innovate its product offering during dynamic periods.”
This is the third time that Altium has advised the shareholders of Bifold following the Caird buy out in 2007 and the LDC transaction in 2012.
Ged Gould, Director and co-head of LDC in the North West, says: “Bifold is now part of one of the UK’s top engineering companies and a global leader in the control systems market. The deal with such a major, listed player in its sector demonstrates the quality of the business’ product offering that it has developed and is testament to its reputation in the industry for technical expertise and delivery. We wish the management team and staff all the best in the future as Bifold embarks on the next stage of its growth journey.”
