Award winner worked patiently for deal

Jul 2 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

AN entrepreneur’s desire to become involved in a successful engineering business saw The Journal Emerging Dealmaker of the year Iain Richardson rise to the challenge to steer the deal through.

Newcastle businessman David Franklin has joined North View Engineering, of Darlington, after a management buy-in.

Mr Richardson, a director of corporate finance at Tait Walker, said: “I had done some work with David Franklin a number of years ago and when he became interested in North View he invited us to represent him. The whole process took over a year, which was much longer than we had originally expected.

“During the deal process there were a number of issues that emerged and we had to work hard to find successful solutions to these to ensure the whole deal did not get derailed.”

Mr Richardson, who became emerging dealmaker of the year at the inaugural Journal Deal Awards last week, also paved the way for Mr Franklin to gain support and advice for funding from Newcastle’s Evolve Finance, the specialist division of NEL Fund Managers. Mr Franklin said: “Iain Richardson and the Tait Walker team were immensely supportive and patient during the time it took to conclude the deal as, due to the nature of the deal, it had to be restructured a number of times to make sure it was acceptable to both parties.

“North View Engineering is a very successful organisation which has been built on solid foundations and providing a quality service. I felt that my experience of and knowledge of running another business would be ideal to support the firm in its future growth plans.”

He predicts a turnover rise from £2.5m to £5m and growth in staff from 50 to 80 in 12 to 18 months.

A Deal Awards supplement appears in The Journal tomorrow.