A maker of foundation structures for wind turbines has been acquired in a private equity-backed management buy-out.

A maker of foundation structures for wind turbines has been acquired in a management buy-out (MBO) funded by private equity firm Platina Partners.

The MBO was also supported by Environmental Technology Fund (ETF), which together with Platina invested a total of £20 million in the deal.

TAG has also received £3 million in government grants from the Department for Energy and Climate Change and regional development agency One North East.

The money will be used to create a manufacturing facility for subsea foundations for offshore wind turbines, which will have an initial capacity of 84,000 tonnes of steel per year and create up to 400 jobs.

TAG chairman David Eason says, ‘TAG is perfectly placed to create a world-class manufacturing facility and has a geographical advantage over international competitors.’

The company’s CEO Alex Dawson adds, ‘Offshore wind presents a tremendous opportunity with investment planned on known projects amounting to over £100 billion in UK waters alone.’

Platina Partners specialises in renewable energy and ‘special situation buy-outs’. The firm invested from its Platina II fund, which has made commitments totalling €20 million (£17 million) to date and has a further €45 million remaining to invest.