BCMS advises Geotek on its sale to Judges Scientific

Newbury-based BCMS has advised Geotek on its sale to Judges Scientific in a deal that could reach up to £80m in value.

The transaction has a total consideration up to a maximum of £80 million, plus excess cash and is Judges Scientific’s largest-ever acquisition and the first to derive a substantial proportion of revenues from services.

Geotek is a supplier of instrumentation and services for the analysis of geological cores.

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David Cicurel, chief executive of Judges, commented: “This was a large and complex transaction and it benefitted enormously from the fairness, positivity and professionalism of Jonathan Dunn and the whole BCMS team.”

BCMS CEO Jonathan Dunn added: “We’ve really enjoyed working with Peter, Tony and the team at Geotek. The company is a rare example of a UK business genuinely leading the world in its field and we are proud to have been so heavily involved in shaping the deal and securing a great home for its long-term future. Being a truly global business, the slowdown through Covid was significant for Geotek, but the team devoted that time to developing new services in new sectors that really added value to this deal. BCMS is thrilled for the shareholders and for Judges, who were a pleasure to deal with.”

First established in 1989, and headquartered in Daventry, UK, Geotek is a designer and manufacturer of a wide range of specialist instrumentation for geoscience applications, focusing on high-resolution, non-destructive analysis of geological cores.

Geotek has to date supplied its products and services to over 40 countries worldwide and generates in excess of 90% of its revenue from export markets.

Under the terms of the deal, Geotek Managing Director Tony Bosley will remain in post to drive the business forward, while Geotek’s founders (Chairman Peter Schultheiss and Service Director Quentin Huggett) will enter into one-year service contracts.

This purchase of Geotek is Judges Scientific plc’s twentieth acquisition since 2005. The group focuses primarily on UK-based businesses, with products sold worldwide to a diverse range of markets including higher education institutions, scientific research facilities, manufacturers and regulatory authorities.

Geotek’s specialist solutions are complementary to another Judges’ subsidiary, GDS Instruments, and the Judges’ board expects the acquisition to be materially earnings enhancing in the current financial year.

MSCL and Geotek specialisations Geotek’s systems – including the company’s original Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MSCL) – deploy a suite of geophysical and geochemical sensors, enabling measurements to be obtained rapidly, accurately and automatically on sediment or rock cores.

Alongside corporate finance advice from BCMS, the shareholders of Geotek received legal advice from Freeths and tax and accounting advice from Menzies during the transaction.

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