Baird sells Watkins Hire to Carrier Rental Systems

Under Baird's tenure, the company invested in its engineering, operations and services infrastructure.

Watkins' turnover grew from £11.7m in the year prior to Baird's first investment to £14.6m in the year to June 2015, according to publicly available records, with EBITDA growing from £4m to £4.7m over the same period.

The sale marks Baird's second UK exit of 2016. In February, the GP sold Alpha Financial Markets Consulting to Dunedin in a deal worth £80m.

Previous funding
Baird invested £10.1m in the management buy-in of Watkins Hire in January 2014, in exchange for a minority stake.

Company
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Lydney, Watkins Hire is a rental provider of industrial and commercial heating and cooling equipment, including steam boilers, hot water boilers, air heaters, air conditioning systems and dehumidifiers. The company also has an events division.

People
Baird Capital – James Benfield (partner).

Advisers
Vendor – Lincoln International, Phillip McCreanor (corporate finance); Eversheds, Catherine Eley (legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Industrials
• United Kingdom
• Baird Capital Partners Europe Ltd
• Trade sale