Survitec sale is still afloat
A DUNMURRY firm specialising in marine and aviation survival is to be sold in a deal worth close to £300m.
It is understood that Survitec, formerly RFD Beaufort, which also produces inflatable tents such as those currently in use as field hospitals in Haiti, is in the midst of negotiations between the private-equity group, Montagu, and US based firm Warburg Pincus.
A source close to the negotiations told the News Letter last night that the deal, said to be worth 280m was in the “advanced stages” but was still a little way from being finalised.
Survitec is a world market leader in aviation and marine survival systems and supplies the British and American armies in Afghanistan with high-tech gear such as the anti-G suits used by helicopter and fighter pilots.
Founded in 1920, the business was a pioneer of life raft development and currently employs about 1,100 people around the world at facilities in Italy, Australia and China.
If completed, the deal will mark the second occasion that the firm has been sold in the past six years having been bought by Montagu from the venture capital firm Alchemy in 2004 for a reported 130m.
Warburg Pincus is one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $35 billion in approximately 600 companies in more than 30 countries around the world.
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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