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Nuaire, a manufacturer and distributor of ventilation systems for the commercial, residential and OEM markets, has been bought by its management for the second time.

The buy-out team, which was led by Alan Wright, invested in the deal alongside £34 million provided by private equity firm Electra Partners LLP.

The company was sold by ECI Partners, which backed the original buy-out three years ago.

“With ECI’s support and backing, we have accelerated investment in new products and re-aligned our sales effort such that Nuaire is now extremely well positioned to capitalise on the many opportunities available in the ventilation market,” Wright said. “We have enjoyed a very successful period with ECI and look forward to continuing that success with Electra.”

ECI’s Chris Watt said Nuaire is a great example of a British manufacturing success story. “Since we backed Nuaire, the business has grown at a rate that vastly outperforms its sector. We have invested significantly in R&D and have been first to market with a number of products that have pushed Nuaire to the forefront of its industry and will ensure that this strong growth continues under new ownership.

“Nuaire is now a true leader in its field and we have enjoyed working with an exceptional management team that had delivered excellent results over the last three years,” he added.

The buy-out’s sole mandated lead arranger was Bank of Ireland (BoI) with The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) the joint lead arranger.

BoI’s team was led by head of European Acquisition Finance David Walsh, who was supported senior manager Greg McDowell.

McDowell said the bank worked on the ECI backed buy-out. “Bank of Ireland has enjoyed a very positive relationship with Nuaire since the ECI MBO in early 2004 and is delighted to continue its support of management and Electra Partners as they look to take the business to the next stage of its development.”

The RBS team was led by senior director Paul Wood and director Nick Evans from the Corporate & Structured Finance team in Bristol.

“Nuaire is a business that we have tracked for a number of years over which time we have developed a strong relationship with management and hence were introduced to this opportunity, which are delighted to be able to support,” Wood said.

“The company has consistently outperformed its sector through its track record of strong new product development that leaves it best placed to capitalise on forecast market growth.”

Financial due diligence was provided by KMPG with the commercial study managed by PwC.

ECI received advice on the environmental issues of the transaction by James Livingstone, senior environmental consultant at Enviros.

Livingstone said the firm has advised ECI on its previous transactions and used its environmental monitoring and health and safety specialists during this project.

“The work was conducted quickly and additional technical assessments were commissioned to reduce uncertainty and understand the risks that had been identified during the initial due diligence exercise,” he added.

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