Guernsey manufacturer acquires Italian business

Wednesday 17 December 2008

A local manufacturer, has acquired an existing business in Italy with funding support from a Guernsey bank.

Intersurgical Limited, a UK company with a manufacturing base in Guernsey, manufacture and distribute disposable respiratory care products such as oxygen face masks and filters. One of the market leaders in the UK, the company also occupies a significant position in its other European markets as well as having a growing presence in the US and Japan.

In order to expand further and acquire Starmed, a complementary business in Italy, the firm agreed with Starmed’s owners to acquire the operations and trading name on day one of the acquisition, with the purchase price paid in instalments over two years.

RBS International in Guernsey, which has supported Intersurgical for more than 25 years, found the right solution by restructuring an existing loan to give the company the additional liquidity needed for the acquisition and then went on to put in place a Standby Letter of Credit.

Kim Jacob, Finance Director, Intersurgical Ltd said:

“The Standby Letter of Credit that RBS International put in place gave management at Starmed the confidence to accept an acquisition structure that enabled us to spread payment over two years. We are grateful for the high level of service that the Bank provided us with and its support throughout this acquisition, which has seen us succeed with our ambition to expand into the Italian market.”

Gary O'Neill, Corporate Relationship Director, RBS International, added:

‘Intersurgical Limited is a long standing client of the Bank and over that time, we have gained a very close understanding of their business and their objectives, including expansion into new markets. We were delighted that, despite tough trading conditions in the World economy when this deal was struck, we were able to formulate a lending package that met their needs and assisted their expansion further into the EU.’