Hermes acquires Becks & Pollitzer

Hermes Private Equity, the private equity arm of Hermes Pensions Management, has carried out a secondary buyout of Beck & Pollitzer, acquiring the engineering services business for £55m (€79m) from Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance.

Royal Bank of Scotland provided debt facilities for the deal, in which Clearwater Corporate Finance and Linklaters advised Hermes Private Equity. Close Brothers and Travers Smith advised Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance.

Beck & Pollitzer specialises in the installation and relocation of industrial plant and machinery and associated services, with a client base across the automotive, printing, canning, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors. Hermes said that the business was benefiting from the growing trend for relocation among Western European manufacturers to Central and Eastern Europe.

The company has 15 offices in the UK, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia and about 300 staff.

Other recent transactions for Hermes Private Equity include UK food producer Symington’s, nursing home operator Independent Living Group and French holiday parks operator Siblu.