A FAST-GROWING engineering business which has seen staff numbers double since a management buy-in last year has acquired a Seaham-based company.

Katmex Holdings Limited, parent company of Katmex Limited, which is based in Stockton, has completed the purchase of Geoffrey Maskell Engineering Limited.

Katmex supplies steel processed parts and fabricated parts for medium to heavy industry. It was itself acquired from its Japanese parent, Katsushiro Matex, in a management buy-out by managing director Dave Mitchell last year.

Since then, the business has flourished with employee numbers growing from around 70 at the time of the buy-out to the present number of more than 150.

Geoffrey Maskell Engineering, which employs around 30 staff at its site on George Street Industrial Estate, is a steel fabricator specialising in sub contract structural steel work, plate, and complex fabrications up to 30 tonnes in one piece.

Immediately upon completing the acquisition, Mitchell installed Andy Byrom, a contact with many years’ experience in the sector, as general manager.

The acquisition will provide the Katmex Holdings Group with increased capacity as it strives to cope with increased demand from the yellow goods sector.

The acquisition opportunity was identified by Tony Edwards, director of corporate finance at RSM Tenon, who had advised Mitchell on the management buy-out of Katmex.

“Dave and I have met regularly since the buy-out completed, and I knew he was keen to diversify the group if the right opportunity came along,” said Edwards.

“Geoffrey Maskell Engineering seemed to me an excellent fit, so it was a case of bringing the two parties together to see if there was a deal to be struck.”