On 9 November 2021, discoverIE Group announced that it had agreed the sale of Acal BFi, the Group’s electronic component distribution business, to H2 Equity Partners for £50m. The transaction was completed in March 2022.
The Group had operated two divisions since 2015 – Custom Supply (“CS”) and Design & Manufacturing (“D&M”).
The CS division provides technically demanding, customized electronic, photonic and medical products to industrial manufacturers. The division operates through Vertec and Acal BFi. For the financial year ended 31 March 2021, Acal BFi reported revenues of £148.7m, profit before tax of £4.0m and gross assets of £60.1m.
The sale of Acal BFi, together with the disposal of Vertec SA in January 2022, concluded discoverIE’s exit from the distribution business and left the Group wholly focused on the higher growth and higher margin design and manufacturing division, the principal driver of the Group’s financial performance.
Nick Jefferies, discoverIE Group Chief Executive, discusses the sale of Custom Supply business in Proactive Investors interview