Equistone Partners, a mid-market private equity investors, firm has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Bulgin from Elektron Technology. Bulgin is the UK-headquartered developer and manufacturer of environmentally sealed high-performance engineered solutions.
“Equistone’s investment will provide the capital to support significant scale-up of new product development, fund improvements to its operational facilities and optimise the sales and distribution infrastructure, as well as to back targeted strategic acquisitions,” said Tristan Manuel, Investment Director at Equistone
Bulgin will continue to be led by John Wilson, who will transition from the role of Executive Chairman to Chief Executive Officer, and its existing management team, who will acquire a minority shareholding alongside Equistone. The team will be joined by Peter Williamson as Non-Executive Chairman.
Founded in 1923 and headquartered in Cambridge, Bulgin develops and manufactures connectors and related components for harsh-environment applications, in sectors including industrials, transport & infrastructure and medical technology. It has locations in the UK, North America, Asia-Pacific and North Africa. The company supplies around 92,000 end users across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific through its direct sales team and a network of third-party distributors. In recent years, Bulgin’s management has successfully invested in the development of new cutting-edge fibre and sensing products and rationalised its product range and distributor base. The business employs around 680 people and generates annual revenues in excess of £30m.
“Bulgin has transformed itself in recent years from a component manufacturer to a leading technology solutions provider with attractive margins relative to the wider sector. With its experience of backing management teams in unlocking growth potential, Equistone is the right partner to support this next stage of our development. Following the acquisition, our focus will remain on providing our customers with the growing and high-quality range of connectivity solutions for which the business is known globally,” said John Wilson, Executive Chairman of Bulgin.
