Rotork Grabs Bilfold for £125 Mln

Rotork has acquired a subsea and wellhead control systems specialist, Bifold, for up to £125m on a cash-free and debt-free basis.

Bifold is headquartered in Manchester, UK, and employs approximately 300 people across its operations in Manchester and Taunton, UK.

The company is being acquired from a consortium including LDC, current management and other shareholders. Bifold will sit within Rotork’s Instruments division and its current management team will remain with the business.

The acquisition is in line with Rotork’s strategy of strengthening its presence in the flow control market and broadening its product portfolio. Rotork estimates that the addition of Bifold will significantly increase Rotork’s addressable market by approximately £750m to £4.3bn.

The total consideration is for up to £125m in cash, comprising £115m on completion and £10m deferred for up to 2 years based on achieving specific financial targets. The acquisition is being financed from new committed debt facilities.

Peter France, Rotork Chief Executive, said: “The acquisition of Bifold represents an exciting step forward in the continued development of Rotork Instruments. This strategic acquisition of a long held target of Rotork’s is directly in line with our core strategy of strengthening Rotork’s presence in the flow control sector and broadening our product portfolio.

Bifold is a highly complementary business to Rotork with a well-regarded management team that provides Rotork with an enlarged platform to further offer its products and services to the oil and gas sector and wider industrial markets. The combination of Bifold’s extensive product portfolio and leading technology with Rotork’s international sales network and geographic reach will significantly strengthen our presence across the global flow control market.”