Technology entrepreneur sells out to US firm
Feb 26 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
Shott ran the business from his Newcastle home, and it has its sole manufacturing and research plant in Wales, where 62 staff are employed. Its annual turnover is around £12m and last year’s pre-tax profits were £1.5m.
He added: “It has been difficult to refinance businesses during the financial crisis and the sale outcome in today’s market is particularly good. All of our stakeholders have ended up happy.”
Shott held 47% of the shares. Newcastle-based North Star Equity Investors and Leeds-based private equity house Endless held 17.5% each, and the remainder were held by its executive and non-executive directors.
Ian Richards, portfolio manager at NorthStar, said: “We are delighted to have assisted Excelsyn towards their acquisition by AMRI.
“The fund’s return from this investment was significantly above our expectations, also testament to the success of regional funds provided by and managed by NorthStar as we continue to invest in other ambitious, potential high-growth companies within the North East region.”
Founded in 1991 Nasdaq-listed AMRI provides scientific services, products and technologies from global facilities in the United States, Europe and Asia.
AMRI chairman and chief executive Thomas E D’Ambra, said, “The acquisition of Excelsyn further builds out AMRI’s global continuum spanning the US, Asia and Europe, and is a significant milestone in its strategy to continue to expand our services platform and global footprint.”
