'This is a huge opportunity for all of us': Northern Ireland compressor supplier joins Swedish industrial powerhouse in undisclosed deal
Lisburn-based PowerAir has joined Swedish group Teqnion portfolio in a deal led by KBS Corporate
A co-owner of Northern Ireland’s leading supplier of premium air compressors has welcomed a “huge opportunity” for his firm after it joined the portfolio of an ambitious Swedish industrial group.
PowerAir, based in Lisburn, began trading in 1978 and also provides in-house air compressor maintenance and installation services.
The company has become the 10th acquired by Teqnion through the UK’s leading business sales adviser, KBS Corporate, in less than three years.
This transaction was different to the previous nine because PowerAir will serve as a bolt-on acquisition, joining a mini-group in the compressed air segment.
Appropriately, Johnny Camblin, co-owner of PowerAir, described his negotiations with Daniel Zhang, Teqnion’s CXO, as “a breath of fresh air”.
“This is a huge opportunity for all of us within Powerair,” said Johnny. “As the distributor for Ingersoll Rand compressors in Northern Ireland, we are very fortunate and excited to join the Teqnion portfolio and add to their group of compressed air companies. We really look forward to working together for many years to come.”
Daniel Zhang explained the attraction of PowerAir as an acquisition target and the growth prospects for Teqnion’s compressed air segment.
“We’ve been exploring the idea of acquiring not only standalone great platform companies but to actually build small, select groups of companies through bolt-ons,” explained Daniel.
“PowerAir gave us a geographical footprint where we had no presence. We got a very good rapport with Johnny at PowerAir and felt he, the team and our current compressed air companies could do a lot of good things together.
“Our hope is that we can transfer knowledge in all directions, free up some time for Johnny to do what he’s best at, and through that grow the company.
“I’m super-happy that Johnny and his team chose to join Teqnion and our compressed air group. I’m very excited about the prospects of the company and the group, and truly honoured that Johnny decided to entrust us with his life’s work.”
Dylan Bennett of KBS Corporate, who led the transaction, was delighted to bring the sale to a successful conclusion and commented: “I’m very pleased to have supported PowerAir in taking the next step in its development. This partnership represents an exciting new stage and we wish them every success going forward.
“It was a pleasure working with Jonny and Daniel to help navigate a pragmatic and collaborative approach throughout the process.”