Hotwork gains new owner

GLOBAL engineering firm Sterling Industries has acquired a Dewsbury-based burner and combustion company.

Hotwork Combustion Technology, which employs 42 people and has a £4.5m turnover, will operate as an independent company within the combustion technology division of Sterling Industries.

Somerset-based Sterling Industries, which employs 450 people worldwide and recorded a turnover of £70m in 2011, is wholly owned by Caledonia Investments. The deal will see Hotwork’s owners, David Robinson and Brian Crowther, remain with the company, retaining a minority shareholding.

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David Blunn, group financial director at Sterling Industries, declined to disclose the value of the deal, but told the Yorkshire Post Hotwork would “fit in nicely with the existing group and we are very pleased the deal has gone through”.

Hotwork supplies combustion equipment to the metals and associated process industries. Sterling Industries said the deal will enhance Sterling Industries’ product range and geographical footprint in the UK.

Law firm Cobbetts in Leeds and accountancy firm Sagars, which is also based in the city, advised the shareholders at Hotwork on the deal. The Cobbetts team that advised Hotwork included corporate partner Guy Jackson and associate Alexandra Birch.

Mr Jackson said: “David Robinson and Brian Crowther have worked hard to develop Hotwork into the industry-leading business that it is today. The sale represents a new era for Hotwork, which will benefit from Sterling Industries’ access to global markets and clients.”

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