Case studies
Fircroft Engineering Services Ltd
Sale of a significant stake in Fircroft Engineering Services Ltd
Jun 2012
Altium acted as financial adviser to the shareholders and Newco with regard to the sale of a significant stake in Fircroft Engineering Services Ltd (“Fircroft”) to Equistone Partners Europe ("EPE").
Background
- Fircroft is a leading provider of recruitment solutions to specialist technical industries, particularly oil and gas, energy and automotive.
- Headquartered in Warrington, UK, it has a presence in 25 countries with offices across Europe, Africa, Australasia and North America. Having been founded in 1970 by John Johnson the business, now led by his son Johnathan Johnson, is one of the world’s leading technical recruitment businesses, servicing clients such as BP, Chevron, Shell, Exxon, British Gas and Bentley.
- Fircroft currently places c.6,000+ contractors around the world, producing revenues for FY11 of c.£553m, with an EBITDA of c.£18.5m.
- EPE is an independent investment firm owned and managed by the former executives of Barclays Private Equity, with a track record over the past 30 years of more than 350 completed transactions.
Transaction
- Altium acted as exclusive financial adviser to the shareholders of Fircroft on all aspects of the transaction, including preparation of the business plan, approaching potential investors, structuring of the transaction and leading negotiations
- The transaction facilitated the exit for one of the founding shareholders who was no longer active in the business as well as allowing the Johnson family to realise a proportion of their value
- Equistone acquired a significant minority stake in Fircroft, valuing the business at £140m
For further information on this transaction please contact Simon Lord, Andy Clarke or Adam Sivner.
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