Firm continues to expand by buying stainless steel maker
AN expanding engineering services company which recently snapped up a Plymouth robotics firm has now bought a stainless steel fabrication business.
Belgrave & Powell Ltd – working in conjunction with Realta Consulting Ltd and Strala Investments Ltd – has acquired the business and assets, including all IP and goodwill from Trufab Ltd based in Rochdale, Lancashire.
The deal means 29 jobs have been retained, and the new business will continue the 30 years of trading from incorporation in 1990.
Operating from the same 68,000sq ft facility the business will now trade under the name Trufab Technologies Ltd. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Trufab is a leading UK supplier of high-quality stainless steel fabrication components to the food, pharmaceutical and machinery industries and with the acquisition, Trufab Technologies will continue to offer a comprehensive range of services and products to its extensive customer base supported by enhanced capability of the new owners.
Paul Ward, a partner in Belgrave & Powell, will lead the company as part of Belgrave & Powell’s Machine Technology Group and said: “We’re delighted to have acquired such great capability in high-quality fabrication work via Trufab, and their employees are a key part of the successful calibre and reputation built up with their extensive customer base both in the UK and internationally.
“Trufab will form a key part of our UK manufacturing growth plans in stainless steel fabrication for specialist applications and we look forward to growing this business into adjacent sectors within our complimentary customer base.”
Belgrave and Powell Ltd is a UKbased specialist engineering services group with activities including specialist machine tool services, robotics, automation, tooling manufacture and distribution operating from facilities in Rochdale, Preston, Plymouth and Tamworth.
Businesses in the group include Weld UK, Dean Smith & Grace Lathes, GAC Rail, Autotech Robotics, Addison Forming Technologies, Techni-grind and Maydown International.
Belgrave and Powell plans to grow each of the businesses organically as well as identifying future strategic acquisition opportunities with Realta Consulting.
In February 2021, Belgrave & Powell Ltd snapped up 100% of the shares of Autotech Robotics Ltd based in the Darklake View industrial estate in the north of Plymouth.
The acquisition meant Autotech Robotics joined Belgrave and Powell’s Machine Technology Group (MTG) which comprises some of the leading UK specialists in high-quality machine tool products, robotics and automation covering a wide variety of applications for rail, aerospace, gas turbine, oil and gas, energy and automotive sectors.
The Autotech Robotics acquisition was complimentary to MTG’s recently announced robotics and automation platform and compliments its other group businesses to provide services not only across the UK but also internationally in its SME and larger corporate engineering clients.
Autotech Robotics was established in 1989 and has been a high-quality provider and integrator of robotic systems across a wide of sectors in the automotive, aerospace, marine and metal processing industries.
It has a customer base throughout the UK and overseas with systems in places as diverse as Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, India, Libya, Malta, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Turkey, and the USA.