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A Plymouth supplier of fasteners and bearings has been bought by a larger rival after it secured millions of pounds in funding.

West Midlands-based Fastenex (Industrial Fasteners) Ltd, the holding company of NDB Engineering Ltd, has acquired the Ocean City’s Cofast, which supplies fastenings and bearings to some of the largest industries in the South West including at Devonport dockyard.

Fastenex, which is headquartered in Willenhall, is a specialist manufacturer for bespoke fasteners and the acquisition will give it significant strategic advantage in the key naval and defence markets utilising Cofast’s reputation for quality and service.

Due to the market’s specialist nature, the relative high levels of customer concentration in the business and the size of the transaction, Fastenex shareholders decided high street banks wouldn’t be able to facilitate the deal.

So they approached corporate finance adviser Martin Poole from Baldwins Corporate Finance to support them in finding a funder and after a competitive process, fintech lender ThinCats was introduced to Fastenex shareholders.

ThinCats, headed by director regional business development Geraint Regan, worked closely with the shareholders and their advisers to gain a close understanding of the business and to provide the purchase consideration for the deal.

Mr Regan, said: “ThinCats' tailored funding facilities are ideally suited to businesses going through event-driven change, such as management buyouts and buy-ins, exits for private equity and mergers and acquisitions.

“We were delighted to support in ther acquisition of Cofast and wish them every success in their growth strategy.”