£1 million funding enables Goodfish to snap up firm

Estimated reading time 3 minutes

Toolmaking and injection moulding company Goodfish Ltd has acquired complementary business Powell & Harber after securing a £1 million debt and equity investment from Finance Birmingham, a national provider of funding to SMEs.

Based in Cannock, Staffordshire, Goodfish employs 30 people and has clients in markets including the USA, Ireland, Portugal, Hungary and Poland as well as the UK. Powell & Harber is a plastic injection-moulding firm based in Worcester, which employs 40 people. The acquisition will significantly expand Goodfish’s business, enabling the company to work for larger customers such as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and more tier 1 automotive suppliers.

Both companies work for a range of sectors, including automotive, medical, aerospace, defence and leisure sports. The deal also enables them to work more closely, sharing best practice and matching capacity to meet client demands. It is expected to create five new jobs.

 Greg McDonald (left of picture), managing director of Goodfish, commented:

“Finance Birmingham’s support has enabled us to secure the acquisition of Powell & Harber, a first-class precision moulding and tool-making business, at a time when the owners were looking to retire. Together with Powell & Harber, Goodfish will be able to better address the demanding requirements of larger customers whose business we have been targeting for some time. This, in turn, will help accelerate our growth and secure employment in the area.“We had a great team working with us again on this transaction, with regulars like Keelys and ABN Amro joined by new team member Steve Thornhill of ICF. This helped us structure and complete a multi-faceted acquisition that might otherwise have been more difficult.”

Goodfish secured investment from the £9 million Regional Growth Fund programme and £56 million Mezzanine Fund that are managed by Finance Birmingham. The £1 million package will fund the acquisition of Powell & Harber and provide further working capital for Goodfish.

Ian Fairclough, investment director at Finance Birmingham, added:“Goodfish’s acquisition of Powell & Harber will give both firms the scale and flexibility to service much larger clients. By working together, they will benefit from greater stability, increased capacity and a wider skills base within their workforce.“The £1 million funding allocated to Goodfish will help two ambitious Midlands firms to go from strength to strength, with further growth and recruitment in the pipeline.”

The bank ABN Amro provided additional acquisition finance and working capital. Keelys LLP, Freeths LLP and Steve Thornhill of Intelligent Corporate Finance all advised on the deal.