Farrat undergoes third generation family buyout with Oliver Farrell as new Group CEO.
Following 60 years of success as a family owned and operated engineering company, Farrat Isolevel Ltd is officially bought by youngest son Oliver Farrell in a multi-million pound deal that positions him as major shareholder and sees the business portfolio restructured under new ‘EOM Group Holdings Ltd’.
We are pleased to announce that Farrat Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Farrell, whose grandfather founded Farrat, has acquired a majority stake in our Altrincham-based business from his parents John and Gabriele, his aunt and his brother Andrew.
Richard Farrell established the business in 1959 and his son John, Oliver’s father, later took the helm.
Oliver has worked at Farrat in a senior role for over 14 years and has been a major driver in growing our company to achieve its record year in 2019.
The multi-million pound buyout deal has been in motion since the beginning of the year and has been a strenuous process that would not have been possible without a huge collective effort both internally and externally, with support provided byHURST Corporate Finance,MSA Law,Slater Heelis and HSBC UK.
Throughout the fundraising, due diligence and the underlying COVID-19 business environment, Oliver and our team have demonstrated what a strong and resilient business Farrat is.
Farrat has expanded in recent years with an international focus under a leadership team appointed as part of our succession planning. Now 42 employees strong, the senior team behind Oliver helping steer our engineering and manufacturing business forwards includes; Finance Director Kathryn Goulden, Technical Director Ryan Arbabi, Paul Mellish as Engineering and Operations Director and Mike Innes as Non-Executive Chairman.
Prior to the buyout, Farrat acquired Universal Vibration Solutions Ltd (UNIVIB), a specialist industrial vibration consultancy and as part of the restructure brought AcouStruct Ltd, high quality installer of acoustic systems such as floating floors, isolated foundations and acoustic bearings into the EOM group.
Explaining the business restructure and looking towards the bright future of the company, Oliver Farrell, our new Group CEO, said:
“We have been a proudly family owned business since our foundation over 60 years ago and that continues to be the case. My brother Andrew and I have been leading Farrat jointly for the last five years and we have successfully grown our business in our key areas of Vibration Control and Structural Thermal Breaks. This has only been possible through the strong relationships we have built with both our suppliers and our customers.
We have now decided that the time is right to restructure the business, with Andrew stepping down and myself moving into a position of Group CEO. This will allow me to continue, along with our team, to drive forwards our Farrat vision of ‘Engineers on a Mission’ and enable Andrew to focus on developing other interests in property.
With support from HSBC, I have now become the major shareholder of the holding company EOM Group Holdings Ltd which has full ownership of Farrat Isolevel Ltd, Farrat Switzerland AG and AcouStruct Ltd. My father John has retired, but retains both a shareholding and a strong interest in the ongoing development of Farrat”.
Ben Bradley, of HURST Corporate Finance, and Adrian Young, a partner in HURST’s tax team, advised management on the buyout and are retained as Farrat’s full-service advisory firm.
Ben Bradley said:
“the rationale of the buyout is to drive the business forward and capitalise on UK and international growth opportunities. Oliver has built a strong team who combined with the expertise within the workforce and market-leading technology, products and services, are capable of achieving the company’s ambitious goals”.
Bernard McIlroy of MSA Law, Simon Wallwork and Janet Robinson of law firm Slater Heelis and Tarifa Simpson of Mazars also advised on the buyout. Sam Roden and Darren Martin of HSBC UK Business Banking, arranged a multi-million pound funding package for the transaction.
Concluding on the restructure, Oliver Farrell reassures that:
“There are and will be, no changes to the operational business of Farrat and in that sense it is very much ‘business as usual. I now look forward to leading our wonderful, talented and dedicated team in our mission to delight our customers – wherever they are in the world – with the best technical solutions to their engineering challenges”.
If you have any questions about this latest update, media & press related or otherwise, please contact Farrat Marketing Manager, Charlene Giles on [email protected] , or reach out to any member of our team.
