Better Capital in exclusivity over £326m Gardner sale

The sale price would represent an increase on the £300m figure the GP was originally seeking, when it appointed Lazard to oversee the sales process in February this year, according to Sky News.

Gardner was Better Capital's maiden investment, with the GP acquiring the business from The Carlyle Group in a £20m deal in February 2010. At the time, unquote" reported the firm had invested £15m in the business to pay down its debt and fund future growth.

Following the secondary buyout, the business acquired the brands and certain assets of Blade Tooling and Blade Technology from administrators KPMG in January 2011.

According to Better Capital's most recent financial results, Gardner accounts for 69% of its 2009 Fund's NAV. The GP said in a statement the sale could result in the fund increasing its NAV by 9.65 pence per share.

Other realisations from the 2009-vintage vehicle include the £47m sale of health and safety management business Santia to Inflexion-backed Alcumus in December 2015, and the sale of software provider MentecPlus Integrated Solutions to listed firm Unit4 Business Software Holding in February 2012. The Santia sale represented a 2.8x money multiple and a 26% IRR.

The proposed sale of Gardner comes six months after Silverfleet Capital acquired Sigma Components, another UK provider of aerospace components, from parent group Avingtrans in a £65m management buyout.

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