05 March 2010

Indian firm acquires Sheffield-based heavy engineer DavyMarkham

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Sheffield-based heavy engineering firm DavyMarkham has been acquired by India's Hindustan Dorr Oliver (HDO) Ltd.

HDO is a leading engineering procurement and construction company and a subsidiary of IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects that is involved in engineered solutions, technologies and EPC installations in liquid-solid separation applications. The acquisition provides HDO with an entry into the heavy engineering sector.

DavyMarkham's managing director, Kevin Parkin, and its financial director, Duncan Hay, will continue in their current roles, along with the management team, with the impact of this changed ownership seen as a positive. "We shall certainly need more skilled workers and to train up people to fill important management and production roles, as the business grows," says Mr Parkin. "The good news for young people and their parents in the region is that we shall be able to offer jobs with a good future in an expanding industry, for many years to come."

HDO, which see the acquisition as a platform for expanding into new sectors, using DavyMarkham's corporate credentials and engineering expertise, says it intends to leverage this expertise and gain a foothold amongst domestic heavy engineering clients. HDO, it is said, intends to invest strategically in new plant and equipment at DavyMarkham, continue the company's apprentice scheme and expand DavyMarkham's sales and marketing infrastructure, in order to tap into opportunities in India. In addition, the IVRCL Group will introduce the Sheffield-based company to its existing international contacts.

HDO, it is said, is exploring opportunities in oil and gas, power and uranium processing, and has announced moves into the nuclear power plant sector.

This sale of the Sheffield-based company represents a major achievement, since DavyMarkham was on the verge of closure four years ago. A rescue was backed by UK venture capital fund Endless LLP, which acquired the company in July 2007, following a sustained period of heavy losses under various owners.

Endless backed Kevin Parkin and Duncan Hay to turn the business around and provided essential new investment capital and strategic support. Within a year of the original acquisition, the company had returned to profitability and won industry awards for Outstanding Manufacturing and International trade.

Endless has also made significant investment into the DavyMarkham site at Darnell in Sheffield, transforming the area into a successful business park, with more than 10 new tenants operating from the site. Endless continues to own and operate the site and has further plans for investment.

Image, L to R: S Chandra Sekaran, executive director Hindustan Dorr-Oliver; S V Ramkumar, CFO and executive assistant to CMD IVRCL; E Sudhir Reddy, vice chairman and managing director IVRCL; Ian Forbes, chairman DavyMarkham; Kevin Parkin, managing director DavyMarkham.

Note: story corrected, 6 March

Author
Andrew Allcock

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