BGF sells historic Sheffield forgings firm to US Private Equity
Wed, 26 Feb 2025 | BUSINESS SALE
Investment group BGF has exited its investment in almost 450 year old Independent Forgings and Alloys (IFA) by selling the group to a US private equity firm.
BGF originally backed Sheffield-based IFA in March 2018. IFA operates a fully integrated metals service centre which has grown to be a leading provider of open-die quality forgings, and uniquely both open-die and precision closed-die forgings. It makes safety critical components to demanding global industries such as Aerospace, Military & Defence, Oil and Gas, Power Generation, Off Highway and Industrial Processing industries.
Since 2018, IFA, whose heritage dates back to 1587, has more than doubled its annual revenues and significantly increased the footprint of its production facilities via the acquisition of Doncasters Precision Forge.
Following a successful seven-year partnership, Trive Capital, a US private equity firm with significant experience of the aerospace and defence (A&D) sector, has acquired a majority stake in IFA. The existing senior management team has re-invested as part of the transaction and will continue to lead the business, as IFA enters the next stage of its growth journey.
Andy McGuinness, IFA’s Founder and CEO, said: “We’ve had a great journey over the past seven years with BGF. Their support and long-term, patient capital model has helped the business navigate the evolving global aerospace supply chain and given us the platform to execute our ambitious growth strategy. Trive’s investment underlines the future ambition of IFA and we look forward to working with them, as well as our employees and customers, in building on our successes to date.”
Rob Johnson, Investor at BGF, added: “IFA is a fantastic ‘Made in Sheffield’ success story, with a rich history and an exciting future. We’re proud to have played our part in supporting Andy and the team over the past seven years, and I would like to wish them every success with their new investment partner.”
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