Laser company targets growth following MBO
09/06/09
The new owners of a South Wales company which has spent eight
years developing a range of high performance and high reliability
lasers are aiming to double its turnover within three years
following a management buy-out.
Global Laser was founded in 2001 by five private investors, two
of whom - chairman, Dr John Watkinson and managing director, John
Miller - have now been joined by finance director, David Beckerley,
to buy out the three other original shareholders.
The deal was financed by the management and Finance Wales plc,
with Mark Hislop at Broomfield & Alexander advising on
valuation, the business plan, forecasts, heads of terms agreement,
deal negotiation and management together with deal structuring and
tax planning.
Legal advice was provided by Eversheds, and the Knowledge Bank,
the Welsh Assembly Government’s scheme which supports high growth
companies in Wales, also provided consultancy support.
Now the company, which employs 22 people on the Cwmtillery
Industrial Estate in Abertillery, is ready to capitalise on the
years of product refinement and the development of unique digital
laser control technology to push turnover up from its current £1.2m
to £3m in the next three years.
Global Laser’s advanced laser modules consist of a laser diode
to produce the light, a lens to create the desired output – a
straight line, grid pattern, or concentric rings – and electronic
control components, and have a vast range of applications from
robotics and healthcare to defence.
They are sold all over the world, including USA, China, Japan
and Korea, and uses include bar code reading, lining up of
components on circuit boards or buttons on shirts, guiding patients
into medical scanners, retinal scanning and measuring tyre depths
on F1 cars as they race around circuits.
Managing director, John Miller, a former Vodafone and Halifax
Building Society board member, said quality and innovation were the
watchwords which would take the company forward into new markets
and new contracts.
“Over the years, we have taken lasers from a low-value, utility
item into a range of high powered, sophisticated applications,” he
said.
“That innovation has continued with our drive over the past
three years to develop software which now enables us to move from
analogue to digital control. We are the only company able to do
this, and it means we can miniaturise lasers to allow them to be
used in an even greater range of applications.
“We will now be looking to improve our partnership arrangements
with our customers, distributors and agents, and together growing a
very strong order book.
Broomfield & Alexander’s director of corporate finance, Mark
Hislop, said the company was a good example of one with a high
quality product in a developing market, which would benefit from
the fresh thinking and dynamism of its new management
structure.
“The MBO will enable Global Laser to further explore additional
areas of commercial activity involving the next generation of laser
technology, whilst continuing to work on the delivery of ever
improving quality to its customers,” he said.
Global Laser has received investment from Finance Wales plc in
previous funding rounds.
Rachel Miles, Portfolio Executive at Finance Wales plc led on
the deal with Rhian Pugh, Investment Executive. Rachel said the
management buy-out would allow Global Laser to push ahead with
growth plans. “The seamless succession of a management team is
crucial to continued growth of a business. We are pleased to have
supported the management buy-out at Global Laser with investment
funding which will allow the company to grow and develop new
products and markets.”
Media enquiries
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Telephone: 029 2033 8126