Bulgin will continue to be led by John Wilson, who will transition from the role of Executive Chairman to Chief Executive Officer, and its existing management team, who will acquire a minority shareholding alongside Equistone.
The team will be added to by the appointment of Peter Williamson, who has extensive experience of driving value in international engineering and manufacturing businesses alongside private equity, as Non-Executive Chairman.
Founded in 1923, Bulgin develops and manufactures connectors for harsh-environment applications, in sectors including industrials, transport & infrastructure and medical technology.
The company has locations in the UK, North America, Asia-Pacific and North Africa and supplies almost 100,000 end users across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific through its direct sales team and a network of distributors.
Bulgin’s management has successfully invested in the development of new cutting-edge fibre and sensing products and rationalised its product range and distributor base, in recent years and the business currently employs almost 700 people and generates revenues in excess of £30 million.
Commenting Paul Harper, Partner at Equistone Partners Europe, said: “Manufacturing is a sector in which Equistone has extensive experience of investing in high-quality mid-market businesses. In Bulgin, we are pleased to be backing a market-leading manufacturer with a global reputation for high-performance engineered component solutions used in a range of harsh-environment applications.”
“Bulgin has transformed itself in recent years from a component manufacturer to a leading technology solutions provider with attractive margins relative to the wider sector,” said John Wilson. He continued: “With its experience of backing management teams in unlocking growth potential, Equistone is the right partner to support this next stage of our development.
"Following the acquisition, our focus will remain on providing our customers with the growing and high-quality range of connectivity solutions for which the business is known globally.”