Nama's sale of business will save 200 jobs

STATE AGENCY Nama has sold a Bowen group subsidiary, BMD and Co, to its managers in a deal that will save over 200 jobs.

Nama appointed Paul McCann of Grant Thornton as receiver to most of the Bowen group in late July, shortly after the High Court appointed a provisional liquidator to the business.

Yesterday, the senior managers of a specialist subsidiary, BMD and Co, bought the business in a deal agreed with Mr McCann.

While BMD’s direct holding company, Bromstrom, was part of the receivership, the company itself was not and has been trading profitably.

Its management, John Allen, Paul Keegan, Nicholas Lynch, Frank O’Keeffe and managing director, Mike Walsh, began talks on the buyout with Mr McCann shortly after his appointment.

The company is a specialist mechanical engineering contractor with revenues of around €25 million a year. It currently employs 210 staff and is working on more than 20 different construction projects.

Mr Walsh said yesterday that the business intends keeping on its current workforce and that it intends bidding for a number of new projects.

The company will continue to trade from its current headquarters in Little Island in Cork, and Mr Walsh stressed that it would continue to work with its existing clients and suppliers.

BMD is focused on industries such as biopharmacuetical production, oil and gas, and energy. The company supplies and fits the equipment used in theses industries. Its staff are mainly craft workers, engineers and surveyors.

Its clients have included multi-nationals such as Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novartis and others in that sector.

Turnover has fallen from around €50 million in 2008 to its current level. Its managing director said yesterday that this was due to a slowdown in investment in the pharmaceutical industry in recent years.

He said the indications are that this is beginning to turn around, and that the company is aware of a number of new opportunities that are likely to arise in the near future. BMD’s new owners would not reveal the price they paid for the business.

In a statement, Mr Walsh said that the deal agreed yesterday would end a period of uncertainty for workers, clients and suppliers.

“We look forward to continuing to serve our core customer base, while also looking towards opportunities overseas and in the offshore renewables sector in the future,” he added.

The deal is first of its kind done by Nama. While the agency’s receiver had control of the holding company, it did not have a direct involvement in BMD itself, as the company had no property liabilities.

Nama was established specifically to manage property-related debt taken on by the five Irish banks.

The High Court appointed John McStay of McStay Luby as provisional liquidator to a number of Bowen group companies in July, when it emerged that they could not meet their liabilities.

Mr McStay stood down once Nama appointed its receiver shortly afterwards.