Shield sector focus: Industrials

The Industrials sector encompasses a wide range of industries, including all forms of manufacturing (low tech to hi-tech), light to heavy industry and the development and production of chemicals.

Shield Corporate Finance recently concluded the sale of UK based Flexible Lamps (Carlyle-owned), Europe's leading manufacturer of commercial vehicle lighting systems, to Penske's Truck-Lite, USA, to create a global leader in truck lighting systems.

Shield acted on behalf of TDSi, a world class designer and manufacturer of access control security systems, in its MBO from Upperpoint Manufacturing.

David Young has led a wide range of transactions in the sector including:

Sale of AM Paper to SCA
Sale of Coats Viyella's Dynacast precision engineering business to Cinven (for a record breaking multiple, and more than the entire market capitalisation of the parent company)
Sale of Unilever's Plant Breeding International to Monsanto (for 80x EBIT)

Every Shield professional also has extensive transaction experience of their own in this broad sector.

Industrials sector M&A comment

It seems to be a widely held perception that the industrial and manufacturing in the UK is in terminal decline. While it is indeed true that the numbers employed in the sector in the UK have fallen over the years as production has moved to lost-cost countries such as China and Eastern Europe, a strong global economy and the UK's continued flair for innovation has helped to boost the sector in the UK in recent years.

For example, the Aerospace industry employs over 120,000 people in the UK (helping to make the UK aerospace industry the second largest in the world), over 800,000 people are employed in the automotive industry and the chemical industry is the UK's largest manufacturing sector, with product sales of over £40bn, over half of which are exported.

Recent large deals in the sector include Mittal Steel's acquisition of Arcelor for over £18bn and Linde's acquisition of BOC Group for £8.2bn.

In the US, DaimlerChrysler recently sold its Chrysler arm to Private Equity firm Cerberus, following a fierce three way battle while it is predicted that ailing Ford could also be a target for Private Equity in the near future.

Meanwhile, in the UK, following the sale of Aston Martin to another Private Equity backed group, Ford has recently put both Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale. It is thought likely that these iconic brands will most likely end up in the hands of Private Equity buyers too.

In the chemical sector, ICI recently rebuffed a £7.2bn approach from Dutch chemical group, Akzo Nobel.