Dunedin returns £230m to investors within three months after new deal

● Private equity house sells Uk-based safety products business to Investcorp

Private equity house Dunedin has returned £230 million to investors within three months following its latest disposal, it emerged yesterday.

The firm, which is run out of Edinburgh and London, announced the sale of Birmingham-based Kee Safety, a global supplier of safety equipment, to Investcorp.

The sale, which is subject to completion, values the company at some £280m and will provide a full exit for Dunedin’s Buyout Fund III, which will make a return of three times the money invested.

Dunedin, which typically targets buyouts of companies in the UK with a deal size of between £20m and £100m, said the exit maintained its current high level of transactional activity.

It comes just a week after the successful initial public offer- ing (IPO) of Alpha Financial Markets and after the August sale of Blackrock Expert Services. As a result, Dunedin will be able to generate a total cash return of £230m for its investors within three months.

The firm said Kee Safety exemplified its ability to find “niche UK businesses and help them to compete on a global stage”. Since Dunedin acquired Kee Safety in 2013, the company has made 12 acquisitions and increased its geographic footprint via further expansion into Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Revenues have more than have doubled since 2013 to a current level of £78m.

Nicol Fraser, a partner at Dunedin, said: “Kee Safety is a fantastic business that has achieved very significant growth. International expansion and an active acquisition strategy have been important parts of that growth and it is to the great credit of the management team that so much has been achieved over the last four years.”

He added: “Over the last four years, the team at Dunedin has focused on accelerating the growth of our investee companies through internationalisation and buy and build strategies. That focus and hard work has paid off in the last three months as we have successfully exited three businesses in quick succession and returned £230m to our investors.”

Chris Milburn, chairman of Kee Safety, said: “Dunedin has been a highly supportive investor and partner over the last four years. As a management team, we knew what we wanted to achieve and we looked for an investor who would really take the time to understand those objectives and go the extra mile in supporting us to meet them.

“We now look forward to working with Investcorp as Kee Safety embarks on its next stage of development.”