South: Leumi ABL completes £9m financing deal with Aeromet International

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TBM Team

Leumi ABL has provided a £9 million structured funding facility to support an investor-led buyout of leading aerospace components manufacturer, Aeromet International.

The facility included invoice discounting, stock finance, plant and machinery finance and an amortising term loan to help facilitate headroom on the transaction.

Aeromet is a long-established supplier of aerospace components to aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus and Meggitt. The business was acquired by UK investor Privet Capital as a non-core disposal from US entity Black Diamond.

The complex transaction involved three trading sites in the UK (in Worcester and Kent) and a team of over 200 staff at Aeromet. It will allow the business to further its well-established relationships with key aircraft manufacturers and also develop its prototype range of A20X alloy products. Steve Keating, owner of Privet Capital, was supported through the transaction by his team of Ian Slater and Vardhan Rajkumar.

Leumi ABL was involved by Privet Capital at an early stage of eventually lengthy negotiations, in order to structure the most appropriate funding arrangement to support both the transaction and future growth potential with projected revenue increases in the next three years.

Steve Keating of Privet Capital commented: “A growing manufacturing business such as Aeromet required a flexible funding solution. Leumi, along with Privet, put together an acquisition package of financing which is adaptable and able to grow with the business. We look forward to working closely with Leumi ABL as we look to take forward the considerable potential of Aeromet.”

Jonathan Hughes, regional sales director at Leumi ABL, added: “We were delighted to be involved with supporting the Privet team in acquiring the Aeromet business. It has well developed customer relationships, a great team full of experience, an enviable reputation for quality and reliability and potential for significant growth. We look forward to being a closely aligned funding partner to the Aeromet team.”

Legal advice to Leumi ABL was provided by Squire Patton Boggs, and McFarlanes acted for the vendors.

TBM Team