The combined Element and Exova company, majority owned by Bridgepoint, an international private equity firm, now has more than 6200 employees and will operate in the future as Element Materials Technology. The new Element Group will consist of 200 laboratories located in more than 30 countries.
Exova will continue to operate business as usual under its new ownership and name, a full programme of organisational integration is underway to introduce beneficial processes and procedures across the group as the Exova team becomes part of the Element community.
Ian El-Mokadem, former CEO at Exova, has moved on from the business to pursue other opportunities, while Element’s CEO Charles Noall takes responsibility for the combined company, alongside a new Executive Team made up of senior management from both companies.
This latest acquisition by Element follows a period of significant growth for the business, helping it to become the fastest growing independent materials testing and product qualification company in the world.
It is expected the combined group will deliver in excess of US$700 million in annual revenues and serve more than 40000 customers worldwide.
Noall said: “We have a clear strategy for growth and this acquisition is a major milestone for Element. Our ambition is to enhance our ability to support customers across their worldwide programmes. With more laboratories and even greater technical strength, our combined company has the scale, capacity and expertise to service the increasingly diverse needs of our clients.”
“Having already acquired a total of 17 businesses in recent years, we are very experienced in implementing procedures and processes in bringing businesses and people together. A programme of integration and strategic brand alignment is already underway with the aim of continuing to deliver best practice while introducing our new colleagues into the Element community.”
To support the acquisition, Element has fully refinanced its existing banking facilities and raised $1.4 billion of first and second lien term debt, alongside $150m of committed ancillary facilities.
