Investment firm Better Capital, founded by venture capitalist Jon Moulton, has backed aerospace supplier Gardner Group’s acquisition of the Blade Tooling Company and Blade Technology.

Investment firm Better Capital, founded by venture capitalist Jon Moulton, has backed aerospace supplier Gardner Group’s acquisition of the Blade Tooling Company and Blade Technology.

In a strategic acquisition, Gardner Group, a portfolio company of Better Capital, will take control of the Blade’s trade and assets from administrators KPMG for £600,000. After completion, the new business will trade as Gardner Blade.

The deal comes less than one year after Better Capital acquired the Gardner Group in February 2010. At the time of the purchase the firm said it aimed to inject £20 million to fund the deal and support the growth of the Derbyshire-based company.

A total of £3 million has been allocated for the Blade acquisition and to provide working capital for the new company, £500,000 of which will come from Gardner’s current cash reserves and £2.5 million from the Better Capital Fund.

Worcestershire-based Blade manufactures and supplies aerofoil tooling and ceramic cores for the aerospace and industrial gas turbine markets.
 
Gardner is a supplier of metallic components such as engine parts to customers including Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems and employs 700 staff across eight manufacturing sites in the UK and Poland.

Phil Lewis, chief executive of Gardner, comments: ‘Blade is a business with great potential that will broaden Gardner’s relationships with strategically important customers.’