Alpine Fire finds new match with rival acquisition

Bury-based fire suppression business Alpine Fire has bought Hampshire rival DAS Fire in its first acquisition since a WestBridge backed management buyout in 2022.

Alpine Fire, founded in 1992, designs and manages active fire suppression systems for customers, such as BAE Systems and Irn-Bru maker AG Barr, in a range of sectors from logistics to aerospace, pharmaceuticals and food and beverage distribution centres. Its products include foam, water mist and gas compression systems.

DAS Fire, founded in 2013, supplies fire detection and suppression solutions to the growing data centre market in the UK and Ireland given the continued surge in digital and AI technology use by businesses. These include full-service design, installation, maintenance and support.

According to its most recent accounts for the year to March 31, 2023, DAS Fire recorded revenues of £13.6 million and an operating profit of £3.3 million. It has 17 employees, who will all remain with the business including directors Paul Darke and Stuart Parker.

Steven Nanda, Alpine Fire chief executive, said since the secondary MBO it had been focused on driving organic growth in its core markets. What made the DAS Fire acquisition so attractive, he added, was the opportunity to accelerate its diversification strategy into other sectors. “We have added further expertise and capability in a unique sector which we identified as a key growth area,” he said.

Thomas Dutton, senior investment manager at WestBridge, added: “We have developed a great partnership with the team at Alpine since investment. The acquisition of DAS Fire supplements Alpine’s existing offering and opens up a new sector of the market. We look forward to supporting Alpine as it pursues further strategic growth.”

Advisers to Alpine Fire on the deal were Pinsent Mason, Dow Schofield Watts, PMSI Strategy and BDO. Clearwater were corporate finance advisers to DAS Fire, with Browne Jacobson providing legal counsel.

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