Inflexion reaps 2.2x on £120m sale of SMD

The GP has sold the business to Hong Kong-listed Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Company Limited, which is a subsidiary of CSR Corporation, a manufacturer of electric mass transit that is indirectly owned by the Chinese central government.

Inflexion acquired SMD in a management buyout in April 2008, investing via its £165m Inflexion 2006 Buyout Fund. Barclays and HSBC provided a debt package to support the deal.

The transaction took place through the holding company Bywell Holdings.

Company
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Wallsend, SMD is a manufacturer of remote intervention equipment such as self-propelled trenchers and tractors, subsea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) systems and submerged mining equipment.

The company serves the oil and gas, telecoms, renewables, mining, offshore wind and scientific industries.

SMD employs 350 staff and generated £76m in revenues in 2013.

People
Andrew Hodgson is the CEO of SMD. Inflexion partner Tim Smallbone and investment director Catherine Richards sat on the company's board of directors.

Advisers
Vendor - Eversheds, Robin Skelton, Jonathan Pollard, Becky Ashurst (Legal).
Company - Eversheds, Robin Skelton, Jonathan Pollard, Becky Ashurst (Legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Industrials
• United Kingdom
• Inflexion Private Equity
• Trade sale