BHP making the earth move
We are delighted to announce that BHP Corporate Finance has acted as lead advisor to the management team of MTS Nationwide (“MTS”), who have acquired the company in a management buyout.
MTS is a specialist plant hire and sales provider of two well-known brands – earth moving equipment Doosan Bobcat and Club Car golf buggies. Headquartered in Wakefield, the company operates throughout the North of England and Scotland with a 50-strong team and generates a turnover of £8m.
MTS will now be led by Iain and Sarah Black, who will work alongside a management team consisting of Tony Miles, Anita Tyler, Michael Williamson and Matthew Watson. Out-going managing director Peter Watson, who has led the growth of the business for the last 22 years, moves into the role of chairman for a period of time post completion.
In addition to its Wakefield headquarters, MTS has a number of depots across the country which have contributed to its growth in the last 12 months. New contracts have been secured with several prestigious golf resorts including The Gleneagles Hotel, Muirfield and St Andrews Links as well as a number of Premier League football clubs and The Football Association’s St George’s Park.
The company’s diverse utility division also provides vehicles to nuclear power stations, theme parks, holiday parks and resorts along with shopping centres, airports and hospitals. Indeed, the management of MTS believe the leisure market offers exciting opportunities for the future growth of the company.
Iain Black, who becomes managing director at MTS, said: “Both Sarah and I are delighted and naturally excited about the future of MTS. Peter and the whole team at MTS have done a superb job over the years and we look forward to growing and developing the business with our existing and new clients. We are very grateful to our advisory team of BHP Corporate Finance, Clarion and RBS who all provided high quality and proactive input and guidance. The way our advisory team worked together as one was first class.”
Andy Haigh from BHP Corporate Finance led a team which included assistant director Tim Brind and corporate tax specialist Dan Taylor, in acting as lead advisor to the management team on the acquisition and arranging a flexible funding package which provides headroom to support the planned further growth of the company.
Andy Haigh said: “It is very pleasing to have structured a transaction that suits all of the stakeholders so well. Peter has done a fantastic job leading the development of MTS and we look forward to supporting the high quality ownership team as they continue his work to deliver further growth for the business.”
This is our first announced completion for BHP Corporate Finance post ‘Brexit’ and the inflow of potential transactions shows no sign of slowing down. We therefore look forward to bringing you details of further completions in due course.