Northedge backs chemical group buyout with £25.5m

The Leeds and Manchester-based investor is pumping £25.5m into Teesside-based Fine Industries to increase production capacity and support the company’s growth ambitions.

Fine Industries makes chemicals for the crop protection, pharmaceutical and speciality chemicals markets.

It sells to a blue chip client base and exports to countries including Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, Ireland and the United States.

Fine Industries employs 270 people and last year generated a turnover of £40m.

Craig Morgan, managing director at Fine Industries, said: “Our business continues to deliver strong growth and has recently undertaken significant investment in our production facilities.

“This has been recognised by our customers who demand the highest standards of quality and safety alongside a culture that strives for continuous improvement.

“This has enabled us to extend our product and technical capabilities which sets us apart in the market today.

“The backing from NorthEdge provides us with an even stronger platform to accelerate our growth and move our business to the next level.”

The business was the subject of a management buyout from a large multinational in 2008.

Ray Stenton, a partner at NorthEdge, led the buyout.

He 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.”

NorthEdge closed its maiden fund at £225m in March, with backing from overseas pension funds and high net worth offices in the United States, mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the UK.

It was one of the largest first-time fundraisings in Europe since the financial crisis of 2008.

NorthEdge targets the lower mid-market with investment in businesses with an enterprise value of £10m to £100m.

The latest deal follows investments into FPE Global, the high-growth specialist engineering firm, Jigsaw24, the Apple and creative IT solutions provider, and Help-Link, the Leeds-based boiler and central heating installation specialist.

The deal provided work for a host of professional services firms including accountants KPMG and PwC and law firms Addleshaw Goddard and Bond Dickinson.

HSBC and Yorkshire Bank provided debt facilities.