Deals News – Ward Hadaway advises precision engineer on private equity boost
15th October, 2013
LAW firm Ward Hadaway has advised long-standing client Express Engineering on an investment by private equity company LDC.
Members of the UK Top 100 law firm’s Corporate team, led by Martin Hulls, provided legal advice to Gateshead-based Express Engineering on the transaction.
The deal will allow the management team of Express, led by founder and chairman Chris Thompson and managing director Nigel Davison, to continue to grow the business and to capitalise on growth in the international oil and gas sector.
Its 375-strong workforce supplies precision engineering services to the aerospace, sub sea oil and gas exploration and production and power generation sectors and as well as its manufacturing centre on the Team Valley in Gateshead, Express also operates from facilities in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The investment was made by the Leeds office of LDC, which has taken a minority equity stake in Express Engineering as part of the transaction, and in addition funding was provided by Express’ long-term bankers Lloyds Bank.
Martin Hulls, Partner and Head of Corporate at Ward Hadaway, said: “We are delighted to have assisted Express Engineering on this important investment deal and believe that this transaction will be the start of another exciting phase of development for the company.
“The deal was a fantastic one to be involved in and involved co-ordinating a team of 10 of our lawyers with lawyers in Brazil and a 12-hour completion meeting.”
Chris Thompson, founder and chairman of Express Engineering, said: “It was a pleasure working with such a professional team.”
The deal comes quickly on the heels of two other major private equity deals completed by Martin and his team this year:
- acting for Growth Capital Partners on their investment into Fishawack
- acting for Nigel Frank International on the investment by ISIS
These deals show that if you have a quality business led by quality people, there is finance available out there to support companies’ plans.
For advice on private equity transactions, please contact Martin Hulls on the details below.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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