The company has bases in Chessington, Surrey, and Neath, West Glamorgan, Wales, and a statement from former owner and managing director Guy Mollart has been posted on its website. It reads: “I am pleased to announce that Mollart Engineering Ltd has been sold to the management team of Chris Barker, Mike Pragnell, Ian Petitt, Wayne Thomas and Jon Upton.
“The purchase by the management team has been supported by Mollart's existing bank, HSBC, and Vine Street Capital, a long established venture capital investor.
“The company has been in the Mollart family hands for 88 years and the existing management team are the best placed to take the business forward and build on its successful heritage.
“I shall remain as president of Mollart while I am still president of the MTA [Manufacturing Technologies Association] to continue to serve the industry that I have proudly worked for during the past 30 years.”
Mollart became president of the MTA in March last year, see article here, and the office is usually a two-year one. The MTA represents both suppliers and users of manufacturing technology. This takes in machine tools, metrology (measuring) equipment, robotics, computer aided design and manufacturing systems (CADCAM), tooling and workholding equipment. The technology supply side turns over some £1.6 billion annually.
Vine Street Capital is headquartered in London, 33 St James's Square. A previous investment of the organisation was Lymington Precision Engineers (LPE), a manufacturer of precision machined components, fabrications and assemblies that serves an international customer base in the oil and gas, telecommunications, nuclear, aerospace and defence, marine and semi-conductor industries, and which is based in Lymington, Hampshire. Vine backed the management buyout of LPE in February 2011, holding a majority stake in the business up until its sales to Senior plc in March 2015.
