Nature of Business

AESSEAL is one of the major specialists in the design and manufacture of mechanical seals and support systems. Mechanical seals are used in pumps and rotating equipment to prevent liquids and gases from escaping into the environment. The customer base is the paper, water, mining, pharmaceutical and petrochemical sectors worldwide. AESSEAL operates from over 230 locations in over 30 countries and is now the 4th largest mechanical seal company in the world with exports to 104 countries.

Investment Overview

We invested in AESSEAL for a 25% holding in 1996, when we introduced a new Non-executive Director, Hamdi Conger, who is highly experienced at growing international industrial businesses.

After a successful period of investment in which AESSEAL consistently delivered to its own ambitious growth forecasts, we were challenged by CEO, Chris Rea, to back AESSEAL’s next phase of growth to enable the business to become an international leader. We could see the worldwide potential for the business and we increased our stake to 40% in October 2007, allowing Chris Rea to retain a majority interest and control of the business. At the same time as our further investment Hamdi Conger became Chairman of AESSEAL.

We have also worked closely with the AESSEAL Board to implement value-based pricing and on the appointments of Sales Director/CEO International, Richard Pickles and Finance Director, John Caldwell. EBITDA has grown at a CAGR of over 20% since our 2007 investment and broke through the £20m barrier in 2011.

AESSEAL continues to perform well despite the difficult economic environment and the company continues to invest for future growth. 2012 saw the highest level of job creation in the firm's history and a $5m investment in production capacity in the US.

AESSEAL also has won various industry awards including twelve Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.

_{Regulatory notice: This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc}