Baird commits £10.1m to Watkins Hire

The GP bought the shares from the founding family. 

The company will direct the funding towards business growth via an investment in its engineering, operations and services infrastructure.

Company
Founded in 1998 and based in Lydney, Watkins Hire provides industrial and commercial heating and cooling equipment rental services. The firm supplies heaters, steam and water boilers, air handlers and chillers to blue chip clients.

Watkins also has an events division, which provides equipment rental for special events such as the London Olympics. 

The firm has several regional depots across the UK. 

People
Baird managing directors Andrew Ferguson and James Benfield will join the Watkins board, alongside Baird operating partner David Barrass, who will chair the board.  

As part of the transaction, Baird has appointed Paul O'Kelly as CEO of Watkins.

Advisers
Equity – PwC (Financial due diligence); CIL (Commercial due diligence); Eversheds (Legal).
Management – TLT (Legal).
Vendor - Livingstone Partners (Corporate finance); Osborne Clarke (Legal); PwC (Tax); Willis (Insurance due diligence).

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