Mid-market private equity house Dunedin has sold Fernau Avionics, a designer and manufacturer of navigational aids for aeroplanes, for £32 million.

Mid-market private equity house Dunedin has sold Fernau Avionics, a designer and manufacturer of navigational aids for aeroplanes, for £32 million.

The acquirer is Moog Controls, a subsidiary of US-based precision system specialist Moog.

Brian Scouler, a director at Dunedin who was on the board of Fernau, says sales have doubled from £10 million to an expected £20 million this year since the original buy-out of the company in 2007.

Adds Scouler, “Fernau has consistently traded ahead of plan, driven by strong sales performance and robust margins.”

The company has sold 1,000 navigational systems in Europe, North America and East Asia since it was founded in 1970. It employs more than 80 staff at its manufacturing site at Luton, where it has recently invested in new facilities increasing capacity by 30 per cent.

Kevin Kearns, MD of Fernau, remarks that the increased focused on cash generation and management since the buy-out enabled the company to repay its buy-out debt ahead of schedule.