The Royal Bank of Scotland (“RBS”) has completed a £20 million re-banking of EV Offshore Limited (“EV”). This marks an ongoing banking relationship for EV, following the recent £69 million management buy-out supported by Dunedin, the UK mid-market private equity firm.
This follows just a few weeks after Dunedin backed EV, in a transaction that saw Dunedin employ its trademark DebtBridgeTM solution in order to ensure deliverability and certainty of debt funding for the company. This is the sixth investment in which Dunedin has used its DebtBridgeTM product.
EV designs, manufactures and provides high performance, ruggedised video cameras that are used to diagnose and analyse problems in oil and gas wells. EV is a fast growing business, having increased its turnover from £1m in 2010, to almost £20m in 2014. This represents a twenty-fold increase over four years and the Company is forecast to continue growing strongly. EV has a strong exporting record: it started to export just three years ago and some 85% of its revenues are currently generated overseas.
EV was founded by Technical Director, Jonathan Thursby, in 2000. Thursby successfully adapted video camera technology, which he had initially developed for use in televising automotive sports events. He created ground-breaking video techniques used by, amongst others, Formula 1™, the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) and the BBC’s Top Gear series.
EV is in Aberdeen and Norwich, with R&D and manufacturing facilities based in Norwich. It has a further presence in 17 worldwide locations across Northern Europe, Canada, USA, West Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia. The business currently employs 100 staff.
Oliver Bevan, investment director at Dunedin who recently joined the board of EV said: “With our DebtBridge product we were able to get the initial transaction over the line quickly without getting held up waiting for bank debt finance. Then, in less than a month we secured the re-banking with RBS, ensuring a smooth transition and on excellent terms for the company. We look forward to working in partnership with RBS to enable EV to further grow its business around the world.”
Rory McPherson, head of structured finance Aberdeen, for RBS said: “EV has game-changing technology and a first class management team. We are delighted to be continuing our support of the business as it embarks on the next phase of its development.”
Francis Neill, CEO of EV added: “The Dunedin DebtBridge™ solution provided us with the certainty of funding at the time of the buyout and we have been impressed with how quickly they were able to secure the re-banking with RBS. The teams at both Dunedin and RBS have been incredibly supportive to our business needs.”
Dunedin’s investment in EV is the third completed from its latest £300 million fund, Dunedin Buyout Fund III. It follows the £90 million management buyout of Kee Safety, a global supplier of safety systems and products.
Dunedin’s team was led by Dougal Bennett, (partner), David Williams (partner), Oliver Bevan (investment director) and Nicholas Hoare (investment director). RBS’s team was led by Rory McPherson, (head of structured finance for Aberdeen), Lee Donaldson (director, structured finance) and Graham Neill (assistant director, structured finance).