Backing drives firm further afield

Jun 30 2009 by Karen Wilson, The Journal

NEL investments are helping a County Durham engineering firm break into lucrative new markets.

KC Engineering is a market leader in manufacturing and repairing white metal-lined bearings for industrial machinery, and its highly specialised services are in increasing demand from growing numbers of customers in several different countries.

Having invested £250,000 in the company in 2004 to help fund the acquisition of a rival business, Evolve Finance, NEL’s specialist debt and mezzanine finance division, invested a further £150,000 in the 40-strong Consett-based firm earlier this year.

Managing director Dr Keith Chester said: “We offer a range of very specialised services in a sector where we have few genuine competitors, and we were confident that focussing on growing markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia would be beneficial to us.

“NEL understood the commercial proposition that we were offering, and their continued support for our business is crucial to its continued expansion.”