Motorcycle manufacturer and championship-winning race team Spirit Motorcycles has acquired Somerset engineering firm Talon for an undisclosed sum.
Spirit, headquartered in Shaftesbury in Dorset, are the reigning British GP2 champions, a class within the British Supersport motorcycle racing competition, which is a support series to the British Superbike Championship.
Talon manufactures a range of products including wheels, hubs and sprockets at its facilities in Yeovil.
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The deal will see the business run by Spirit founder and pioneer of the British GP2 Championship Rod McDonough.
Talon’s former managing director Rob Sartin, whose father George helped to establish the business from a small engineering shop in the 1970s, will remain with the company to assist in the transition.
Spirit’s team of designers and network of former MotoGP engineers, including chassis expert Steve Bones, will help in the growth and development of the Talon brand, which has a global customer base including in the US and Australia.
Mr McDonagh said: “We are delighted to have combined the Spirit and Talon brands. We aim to continue Talon’s existing strategy of delivering world class products whilst growing our customer base worldwide.
“We will merge the expert knowledge of Spirit with Talon’s experienced engineers to introduce new, race quality products to the market which we believe will drive growth for both businesses.”
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The acquisition was funded with the support of private bank Arbuthnot Latham.
Birmingham-based financial advisers Cattaneo Corporate Finance sourced and negotiated the funding package. The firm worked with Spirit, Talon and Arbuthnot to deliver the transaction ahead of the opening round of the next racing season, scheduled to take place at Oulton Park in Cheshire on the weekend June 25-27.
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Scott Peters, associate director at Cattaneo, said: “Spirit’s acquisition of Talon sees a highly regarded family business join the hugely talented team at Spirit Motorcycles.
“This is exciting news for bike enthusiasts everywhere, the team at Spirit has a strong passion for bikes and Talon is destined to reach new heights under their leadership.
“We wish Rod and his team every success in taking Talon forwards and in defending their title in the upcoming 2021 British GP2 Championships”.
Mr McDonagh said: “The Cattaneo team have been working with me to look at acquisitions, their depth of knowledge and connections within the funding market and their tenacity in driving the acquisition process were a critical component of completing this deal successfully.
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“We took great comfort from the way the Cattaneo team operated and supported me through the deal process.”
Keith Rose, Arbuthnot Commercial ABL’s director of business development in the Midlands and South West, added: “Arbuthnot has a real appetite to support businesses like Spirit and Talon with talented management teams and lots of potential.
“We’re delighted to have been able to structure a full ABL package to support them and look forward to a long and rewarding relationship”.