NorthEdge Capital, the private equity firm focused on investing in businesses in the north of England, has invested £25.5m in Fine Industries, a Teesside-based manufacturer of fine chemicals.
The investment will be used for increasing capacity and supporting the company’s growth ambitions, with its products used in crop protection, pharmaceutical and the speciality chemicals market.
Following five years of growth, Craig Morgan, managing director, who was part of the original buy-out team, is leading the latest buy-out backed by NorthEdge Capital.
“The backing from NorthEdge provides us with an even stronger platform to accelerate our growth and move our business to the next level. It’s great to be working with a team that are as committed and passionate about our future as we are,” said Mr Morgan.
The deal is the fourth transaction by NorthEdge from its maiden fund, which closed at £225m in March this year.
It follows investments into FPE Global, the high-growth specialist engineering firm, in February, Jigsaw24, the Apple and creative IT solutions provider, and Help-Link, the boiler and central heating installation specialist, in April.
Ray Stenton, partner at NorthEdge Capital, said: “Fine Industries is a high quality business that operates in a large and growing global market, with long term fundamental drivers supporting continued growth. As a market leader the business enjoys strong relationships with its blue chip client base. We are looking forward to working with the management team to support their growth plan.”
Fine Industries has 270 staff with a turnover of £40million for the year, with it has an international blue chip client base and exports to countries including Switzerland, Germany, USA, Brazil and Ireland.
