Off site fabrication and water heating specialist Ormandy has bought commercial water heating manufacturer Rycroft from the Baxi Heating group for an undisclosed sum.
Since its formation six years ago, Ormandy has grown quickly to become a leading supplier of prefabricated packaged plant rooms and also offers a wide range of water heating solutions including calorifiers and plate heat exchangers.
It passed the £5 million turnover barrier last year and recently acquired the steam and hot water boiler manufacturer Hartley & Sugden as well as Newade Stainless, which produces high quality stainless steel products for the pharmaceutical, process and food industries.
The Dreh and Heatrae Industrial businesses will also join the Ormandy portfolio as part of the acquisition, which further extends the Halifax-based group’s offsite construction business and broadens its range of commercial water heating products.
Rycroft will continue to operate from its headquarters in Bradford and under its own name. Ormandy also intends to retain all of the 89 people currently employed by Rycroft.
“This is a very positive move for everyone associated with the two companies,” said Managing Director Paul Cooper, who founded Ormandy in 2001 after standing down as Managing Director of Rycroft. “The two companies have strong links and many of our people used to be employed by Rycroft. We have an in-depth understanding of the Rycroft product offering and intend to focus on its strengths. We have very clear ideas of where we can now take the extended Ormandy group.”
“The commercial water heating market has become increasingly competitive,” said a Baxi Heating UK spokesperson. “This caused us to review our product offering and cost base. In order to focus on our core commercial activities, we have decided to sell our Rycroft, Dreh and Heatrae Industrial businesses.”
Ormandy was advised by Yorkshire law firm Gordons LLP with Corporate Solicitor James Fawcett leading the Gordons team.