Building the family silver
1 min read
The hostile £1.9 billion bid for Aberdeen-based energy exploration firm Dana Petroleum, a FTSE 250 company, by South Korea's state-owned oil company Knoc, and increased merger and acquisition activity generally, have provided the backdrop for concerns about the UK's loss of family silver, a la purchase of Cadbury by US giant Kraft, followed by slimming of UK operations.
Out of the glare of publicity, there was another 'inward investment' development, although this time it involved a welcomed minority equity stake in a private UK?company, and one that looked like a very good deal for a UK company in the country's growing green economy.
The UK firm is Blade Dynamics, based in the Isle of White, and rotor manufacture is its primary activity. The investor is American Superconductor (AMSC), Devens, Massachusetts, USA, which is major supplier of wind turbine designs and electrical components to Chinese manufacturers: it has bought 25 per cent of the company for $8 million. The Dow Chemical Company, through its Venture Capital group, also took a minority stake in Blade Dynamics.
Established in 2007 by Paul Rudling, who has 30 years' relevant experience with Isle of Wight-based SP Systems (now Swiss firm Gurit), Blade Dynamics has developed technology allowing the manufacture of lighter, longer lasting wind turbine rotors up to 200 mm swept diameter. Today's 2 MW wind turbines require rotors that are more than 70 m in diameter, with 5 MW wind turbines requiring rotors up to 120 m in diameter. AMSC and Blade Dynamics are working on a 10 MW turbine design.
Mr Rudling said of the equity investment: "We see tremendous potential for [our] technology and are delighted to work with AMSC and Dow. Blade Dynamics will now be able to utilise AMSC's unique wind turbine design capabilities and business model as well as Dow's global reach and composite materials to capitalise on the tremendous opportunities we see in front of us." AMSC's investment in Blade Dynamics will finance a US manufacturing plant in New Orleans, Louisiana. This factory is also backed by Louisiana Economic Development with an incentive package worth up to $30 million. In addition to this expansion, Blade Dynamics reportedly plans to expand its operations in the UK.
So this investment looks like one that will drive growth and technology development for Blade Dynamics and create a larger UK operation over time. Good news too for the Isle of Wight, which lost wind turbine maker Vestas' rotor manufacturing factory last year. Danish firm Vestas cited lack of UK movement on wind power and an increased focus on the better US market, of which Blade Dynamics is also a now beneficiary, but whose roots are in the UK, not Denmark, and so is likely to stay put. A case of building the family silver?
