Sun European Partners appoints DC Advisory for Wescom sale

The sellside is expecting to market the UK-based marine and defence pyrotechnics manufacturer at around GBP 20m 2023 EBITDA or more, according to four sources.

The business is expected to come to market in 4Q, two of the sources said. One of them said that an incident at one of its plants has led to delays in the sale process.

In January, a large fire was reported at the Wescom Defence site near Derby, according to a BBC report.

In its 2021 financial year, revenue more than doubled to GBP 61.6m, while EBITDA grew by 80% to GBP 16.1m, thanks in part to the acquisition of PW Defence, according to a Companies House filing, submitted last September.

The acquisition has "supported the expansion of the group's manufacturing capability and capacity, with new technologies previously not available to the group. This increased capacity has enabled a reduction in lead times and has reduced the overall risk of long-term business interruption", it said in the filing.

Wescom was acquired by the sponsor from The Jordan Company in early 2020 as part of the US sponsor's breakup of portfolio company Drew Marine, which in 2019 put its chemicals and electronics division on the market, alongside WesCom, as reported.

Peers within the industry include James Fisher and Sons, a UK provider of marine engineering services, and Consilium's Marine & Safety unit, which was sold to sponsor Nordic Capital for SEK 3bn (GBP 240m) in 2019, as reported.

The sector traded at a valuation of around 11x-12x EBITDA at the time, as reported.

DC Advisory declined to comment. Wescom and Sun European did not respond to requests for comments.

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