Weldex
Sectors: Industrial, Energy
Deal Type: MBO, Current
Transaction Value: £55 million
Dunedin contact:
Mark Ligertwood
Simon Rowan
Nicol Fraser
Overview
In June 2010 we invested £32m in the buyout of Weldex, the UK market-leading crawler crane hire company. Total funding for the transaction was in excess of £100m, including asset finance facilities.
Deal Features
We were impressed by the way Weldex had continued to grow through the recession by focusing on large, complex infrastructure projects and the offshore wind power industry. Weldex is the clear market leader in its field and with a strong order book and good visibility on forward orders, is extremely well positioned to capitalise on the construction of new offshore wind facilities over the next 20 years.
We had identified Weldex through our origination function five years prior to making the investment and since that time had carried out a significant amount of work developing a good understanding of the business and its market drivers. This was a major contributor in allowing us to act quickly and decisively after we had been introduced to the company by a member of our industrial network.
The transaction was structured with no acquisition bank debt which will allow the company to invest for growth without the constraints of debt repayments or bank covenants.
Business Description
Weldex is the largest crawler crane hire company in the UK and has an extensive fleet of crawler cranes including the two largest in the UK. Its cranes have been used in a number of the UK’s largest construction projects including Heathrow Terminal 5 and the iconic arch on the new Wembley Stadium. Weldex employs 102 employees and operates nationwide and overseas from its headquarters in Inverness and its depot at Alfreton. The company also supplies associated lifting equipment including wheeled cranes, forklifts, lorry loaders and trailers.
The company is well placed to benefit from the rapid growth in offshore wind farm developments and UK power station construction and decommissioning.
Weldex’s perspective
Iain McGilvray, Weldex’s Managing Director, commented "Dunedin quickly got to grips with the business and recognised the opportunities open to Weldex, particularly in offshore wind energy. We liked the Dunedin approach from the start and they delivered on everything that they committed to".
