By Yoke Har Lee
The year's first big management buyout has been accomplished, with a group of senior managers buying the 105-year-old Hamilton-based steel fabrication company NDA International Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
The NDA chief executive, Gary Mollard, who heads the new owners of the multimillion-dollar company, said no external equity
partner was involved in financing the buyout
Restructuring over the past two to three years meant business would proceed as usual, he said.
"We are happy with the company's shape as it is. We see it developing increased revenue streams, especially in Australia in the industrial sector." NDA derived between 30 and 40 per cent of its revenue from Australia.. It also saw potential to supply farm milk vats and add value to the sector.
NDA, an unlisted public company, was formerly owned by several dairy companies, which considered they no longer needed to be owners.
NDA shelved plans for a public listing three to four years ago, Mr Mollard said. Similarly, plans for a trade sale were considered but did not go ahead.
The management team comprised three long-serving members of the company, Mike Down, Tony Joblin and Ben McGee, and two recent additions, Dallas Fisher and Aksel Jepsen.
Mr Mollard said NDA had shareholders' funds of about $16 million. Turnover was about $50 million.
The company, set up in 1894 by the dairy companies to supply services to the industry, had gained excellence in design, development manufacture, installation and commissioning of stainless steel vessels and processing plants.
It employed 205 people, but the ownership change did not spell redundancies.
The company recently completed four super duplex radial flow scrubbers for Lurgi (Australia); an ammonium sulphate plant in Australia for US Filter; 21 large fermentation vessels for Nobilos Winery; and the world's largest milk powder drier for Kiwi Co-Op Dairies.
