Background

FRP was approached by an existing client to support the acquisition out of administration of Arlington Engineered Systems. Arlington was based at an 80,000 sq ft manufacturing site in Coventry, and produced electrical assemblies for use in several vehicle applications, with clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Nissan and Aston Martin. The company was a division of the Arlington Automotive Group, a large, multinational Tier 1 supplier to vehicle manufacturers, which went into insolvency globally in May 2020.

Action

FRP was appointed to assist the negotiations with administrators, and secure debt funding to support the acquisition by Evtec Automotive, a new company set up for this purpose. The team engaged with several lenders to produce terms sheets, although the fact that a significant percentage of Evtec’s future trade would be from one customer, Jaguar Land Rover, narrowed the field of interested parties. FRP also produced a tailored financial due diligence report so that the new shareholders and lenders could better understand the financial aspects of the business going forward.

Outcome

The team was able to secure a £15 million flexible suite of debt facilities from BREAL Zeta. The hybrid cashflow and asset-based lending facility will fund the acquisition of the business as well as providing the necessary levels of working capital. The deal is set to save up to 110 jobs and create 50 more, including a significant number of roles for those with disabilities.