50 JOBS SAVED AS FIRM SELLS ASSETS

129-year-old firm ‘with a longstanding heritage’ offloads two businesses following administration Hannah

FIFTY jobs have been saved after a Stoke-on-trent engineering group sold two businesses following administration.

The Ham Baker Group, based in Etruria, designs, manufactures and installs products for the water, waste water and process sectors and undertakes project work for a network of global customers.

Two businesses forming part of the Garner Street company, founded in 1893, have been sold after administrators from corporate investigation and risk consulting firm Kroll were appointed last week.

Industrial Values Limited has been sold to Dutch valve manufacturer and distributor Duvalco, while Ham Baker Limited’s asset inspection, maintenance and screens and distributor operations were bought by Leicester-based construction group Galliford Try.

Galliford Try says they will use Ham Baker’s engineered products to ‘develop a low carbon engineering offering, enabling products and raw materials to be as reused as possible, and reducing waste’.

The team of around 40 employees will continue to work from the business’s current premises.

Kroll managing director

Jimmy Saunders, one of the joint administrators, said he was pleased to have been able to ensure skilled engineering jobs remained in the region.

He said: “I am pleased to have been able to agree the sales and to ensure specialist engineering skills in the region are protected.

“These transactions secure the future of a large part of the group with such a longstanding heritage, professional workforce and reputation in the industry.”

The Sentinel previously reported that more than 130 jobs at the Ham Baker Group were safeguarded in March 2017 after the business was acquired by Birmingham equity fund Intrinsic Equity.

Ham Baker Group’s previous owner, FJ Holdings Limited, and one of its subsidiaries, Ham Baker Adams, had gone into administration following ‘cash pressures.’

Chief executive of Galliford Try Bill Hocking added: “We are delighted with this acquisition which bolsters our position as a leading service provider to the water sector, with a growing capability in off-site build, capital maintenance and asset optimisation.

“The evolution of our business means we are uniquely positioned to help our clients deliver the UK’S water needs through the improved resilience, efficiency and optimisation of their assets.”