Irish glass specialist Alucraft sold to UK investor for €10m

UK investor Elaghmore Partners has bought Irish glass installation specialist Alucraft in a deal thought to be worth €10 million.

Alucraft is well-known in Irish construction and has worked on high-profile protects including the European headquarters of tech giants LinkedIn and Amazon in Dublin and the Tata Steel building in Birmingham in Britain.

Elaghmore Partners confirmed on Monday that it has bought the business but the parties did not reveal the price. Industry sources indicated that Alucraft may have sold for about €10 million.

The deal is the fifth and biggest acquisition made through its Elaghmore 1 private equity fund, which closed at the end of 2016, raising £60 million (€67 million).

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The backers are a mix of US and European institutional investors and the fund focuses on industrial businesses with scope for growth.

Led by managing director Jack McHugh, Alucraft employs 200 people. In 2016, the last year for which accounts are available, it earned €1.9 million pre-tax profit on revenues of €20.26 million. Shareholders include Mr McHugh and his director colleague, Rory O’Sullivan.

Alucraft will remain under its current management. Elaghmore plans to support it in expanding its business, including its UK operations.

Andy Ducker, Elaghmore founding partner, noted that Alucraft was a profitable company that had built a market-leading position in Ireland.

Mr McHugh said that Alucraft saw opportunities to expand its Irish and UK businesses.

“We chose to partner with Elaghmore which has a strong record of supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and providing non-executive expertise to add even greater value,” he added.