Bridgepoint sells Hydrex

Bridgepoint has sold Hydrex Group, a specialist supplier of mobile operated equipment and associated support services for the UK rail and materials handling sector, to Quilvest and Shoaibi Group in a transaction totalling £106m. The investment has generated a money multiple of three times the original investment.

Bridgepoint first invested £15m in the business in March 2002, supporting a £36m MBO. It subsequently provided additional funding for two of the four bolt-on acquisitions Hydrex has made in the past four years. These allowed it to secure strong regional positions in the UK rail and specialist materials handling markets.

Founded in 1985, the company’s customer base comprises specialist infrastructure maintenance and track renewal contractors as well as aggregates and waste handling.

Alan Payne, director at Bridgepoint, says: “Since we first invested four years ago, Hydrex has been successful in effecting a buy-and-build strategy that has allowed it to expand services and geographical coverage and at the same time reposition the business to take advantage of the outsourcing trend in its sector.”

Barclays provided debt for the transaction. Advisers included: Close Brothers (corporate finance), Ernst & Young (accounting due diligence), Deloitte (market due diligence); for Bridgepoint – Eversheds (legal); for Quilvest & Shoaibi Group – SJ Berwin (legal), PWC (tax); for Barclays – DLA (legal.)