Umeco in £146m sale of division to private equity firm

The company, which has its Aerovac factory in Keighley, said chief executive Clive Snowdon and finance director Douglas Robertson stepped down after their involvement in a proposed management buyout of Pattonair.

Umeco, which also makes composite materials for Formula One racing cars, named chief operating officer Andrew Moss as its new chief executive and financial controller Steven Bowers as its finance chief.

Umeco expects the sale of Pattonair to Exponent Private Equity LLP to generate net proceeds of about £109.3m, before transaction costs, and said it would use the funds to pay down debt.

The company said the disposal will allow it to focus on its composites business, which has higher margins and a broader customer base.

Umeco said customers are increasingly using composite materials due to factors such as rising energy costs and increasing environmental and safety concerns.

In February, Umeco said it was in discussions to sell Pattonair, whose customers include Rolls Royce, BAE Systems and the US Department of Defence.

The unit made revenues of £235m in the year to March 2010, a substantial part of the £409m sales notched up by Umeco as a whole.

The disposal is subject to the approval of shareholders and a general meeting is expected to be held in mid June with completion expected to take place during July.

Umeco chairman Neil Johnson said: “This is a turning point in Umeco’s long history as a specialist engineering group.

“The board has concluded that it is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to focus the group’s resources on the composites business, which has attractive long-term growth prospects in the core markets of aerospace and defence, wind energy, automotive and marine.”

Mr Moss said: “The proceeds from the disposal will be used to strengthen our balance sheet which will enable us to build further scale, both organically and through potential acquisition.

“We relish the opportunity to bring additional focus and resources to bear to enhance what we believe are attractive market positions in advanced composites.”