Deal Flows in Leengate Valves MBO
Leengate, one of the UK’s leading wholesalers of industrial valves was acquired by its management team from Linde AG, the German listed industrial gases and engineering group.
Based in Alfreton and with annual turnover approaching £7 million, Leengate supplies major re-sellers in the gas, water and industrial sectors. The company holds one of the largest ranges of industrial valves in the UK and also provides its customers with specialist actuation and automation engineering services.
Managing Director Steve Pickering commented “Having helped found Leengate Valves some 20 years ago, I am very proud that my team and I now have the opportunity to own the business we know so well. Having completed the buy-out we are now all looking forward to continuing to work closely with our suppliers and customers and building on our success.”
A team of Don Gray, Kevin Davies and Tim Brind from BHP Corporate Finance advised the Leengate management team on the acquisition and associated fundraising. Don Gray, partner, said “I am delighted that we have been able to work with Steve and his team to secure this deal. This is in every way a classic MBO story – a successful business that was deemed non-core by its owners and an ambitious and talented management team that was keen to take it independent”.
Equity funding for the buy-out was provided by YFM Equity Partners whilst HSBC provided term debt and working capital facilities.
Kevin Davies, assistant director, added “What has been particularly encouraging to see is the appetite of both debt and equity funders to support this transaction – something which I believe bodes well for increased buy-out activity in the SME market in the coming months.”
Demonstrating our capability to deliver integrated transaction advice, our lead advisory team was supported by Mark Cooper from BHP’s specialist transaction tax team.
Steve Pickering added “BHP Corporate Finance were integral to making the deal happen. The company’s previous owner was a large and sophisticated German multi-national. We therefore wanted an advisor with the experience and professionalism to deal with the vendor on our behalf and BHP showed they had these qualities in abundance. They guided us through the process from start to finish and we could always rely on them to provide insightful and well-reasoned advice. In short their commitment to getting the right deal for us was unquestionable.”