McMurtry puts €5.2bn Renishaw up for sale
Dublin-born billionaire inventor wants to secure manufacturer’s future,
CLONTARF-BORN billionaire engineer and inventor David McMurtry and his co-founder, Welshman John Deer, are seeking a buyer for Renishaw, the Gloucestershire precision manufacturing business that they founded almost 50 years ago.
They could net more than €2.7bn for their combined 53pc stake in the Ftse-listed company, as they seek to secure the future of the company, which employs over 4,500 people, including almost 300 employees in Swords, Co Dublin.
In a statement last week, McMurtry said: “We are both grateful for our continued good health, however we recognise that neither of us is getting any younger. Now in our 80s, our thoughts have increasingly turned to how we can actively contribute to securing the future success of the business.
“As the founders, we understand the importance of its culture, our place in the communities in which we operate, our commitment to R&D, and the loyalty of our staff, our suppliers, and the customers we serve; these together have been the foundation of our success for almost 50 years. With the board, we are therefore focused on ensuring that we find the right new owner for our business — one who respects and will continue to nurture these important attributes.”
McMurtry and Deer founded the company after the Irishman invented a device in 1972 called a touch trigger probe to precisely measure the fuel nozzles on the Rolls-Royce Olympus engines, on which he was working, on the supersonic Concorde plane.
McMurtry’s 36pc stake in Renishaw is currently valued at €1.8bn. The firm owns over 1,500 patents, with McMurtry having over 200 in his name —more than the household name British inventor James Dyson.
In 2018, McMurtry revealed that he feared the business would be taken over by a foreign owner and was worried about the future of its manufacturing base in Britain and Ireland, having seen what had happened with the sales of ARM Holdings and Cadbury, which now makes many of its chocolates in Poland. “There’s been some speculation that Berkshire Hathaway would be an ideal buyer, given its liking for specialist businesses with high margins, and management teams that take a long-term view. Some buyers might be put off by the founders’ and board’s conditions though,” said Irish investor Colm Fagan, who has owned Renishaw shares since 1998.
Other potential buyers would include British, Japanese, US or European precision manufacturing rivals. Last September, Berenberg analyst Anthony Plom said Renishaw’s medical robot and 3D printing divisions could add over £500m (€580m) in revenues per year, and billions in value to the firm.
Meanwhile, McMurtry has invested up to £4.8m in McMurtry Automotive, an electric car startup he has backed, accounts show.