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Italians swoop for Nuclear Engineering Services in £30 million deal

Exit for private equity firm LDC exits after five-year association with Wolverhampton firm

Black Country engineering business has been acquired by an Italian company in a £30 million deal.

Private Equity firm LDC has sold its stake in Wolverhampton-based Nuclear Engineering Services (NES) to Ansaldo Energia Group, one of Italy's largest suppliers, installers and service providers for power generation plants and components.

LDC took "a significant stake" in NES in 2009 and said the exit deal provided a return in excess of a two times its original investment.

NES, whose history dates back to the 1950s, supplies bespoke services and products into the nuclear decommissioning, nuclear new build and defence sectors.

The business has provided equipment to all of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ's nuclear power stations in both active and decommissioning phases, and is responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of three silo emptying plants for remote material extraction from one of the principle storage buildings at Sellafield.

Since receiving LDC's investment in 2009, NES said it had delivered substantial sales and profit growth, installed new machinery at its Wolverhampton factory and built an engineering and manufacturing centre in Cumbria.

In its financial results for the 2013, it posted turnover of more than £37 million, up from £18 million in December 2008, while staffing levels have increased from 180 to 420 people over the past five years.

Chairman Tony Eckford said: "Since LDC's investment back in 2009, we have achieved and exceeded on our growth objectives each year.