Rotork p.l.c. Acquires Fairchild Industrial Products Company

Rotork p.l.c. ("Rotork"), the market leading actuator manufacturer and flow control company, announces that it has acquired:

Fairchild Industrial Products Company ("Fairchild")

Fairchild, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, manufactures high-precision pneumatic controls and power transmission products for a wide range of industries.

The company was purchased from FIPC Acquisition, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company controlled by Hampshire Equity Partners III, L.P., for a net consideration of $75.8m payable in cash and financed from existing reserves. $7.7m of the total sum will be deferred and held in escrow for two years.

Fairchild is an asset-light company with a similar outsourced model to Rotork. In its last audited accounts to 31 December 2010, Fairchild reported revenue of $21.1m and profit before interest and amortisation of $6.3m. Gross assets at the same date were $42m, which included $36m of goodwill and intangible assets that will be reviewed as part of the fair value accounting for the acquisition. In the ten months to 31 October Fairchild achieved EBITA of $6.7m on revenue of $20.8m.

The management team of Fairchild will remain in the business.

The acquisition of Fairchild is in line with Rotork's strategy of strengthening its presence in the global flow control market, as part of which the Group also announces the creation of a new division, Rotork Instruments. Rotork Instruments will focus on developing further opportunities in the flow control market; in particular, products associated with flow and pressure control and diagnostic and information gathering technology. Fairchild will form the basis of the new division.

Fairchild manufactures a full range of market leading regulators, boosters, relays and transducers. The products are used in a wide variety of applications that require precision control of pneumatic devices and motion control equipment. As well as Oil and Gas applications, the company also benefits from orders in pharmaceutical and biomedical equipment, tyre manufacturing machinery, robotics, food processing and chemical manufacturing applications. The company has offices in China and India with local presence in Mexico, Russia and Brazil. North America remains the largest market with 57% of the revenue, with Europe accounting for 16% and North Asia 12%.

Commenting on the acquisition, Rotork Group Chief Executive Peter France said:

"The acquisition of Fairchild will strengthen our presence in the global flow control market and broaden the scope of the Group's activities whilst remaining close to our core competencies."