Castle Square Corporate Finance has assisted Knight Warner Limited in securing a significant investment package which will be used to fund it's growth programme.
The team from Castle Square together with the legal team at the Sheffield office of Freeth Cartwright advised the management team on all aspects of the transaction, securing funding from Enterprise Ventures, Turning Point Angel Investors from Nottingham and the company's management team.
Knight Warner is a UK leader in the field of industrial automation. It manufactures conveying, handling and robotic solutions for a wide range of sectors including food, beverage, canning, steel, power, water and pharmaceuticals. Established in 1998, it operates from premises in Chesterfield and in Wyboston, near Cambridge.
The company has recently boosted its export business by clinching a £1.1m order from Melbourne-based Icon Equipment International to make robotic bottle handling and control equipment for two large dairies in Australia, and has just completed a multi-million pound project installing a plant for Nampak, a major global packaging manufacturer, to enable Nampak to handle the transfer of its lightweight Infini plastic bottles from its production facility straight into a major dairy site.
Kevan Shaw, Director at Castle Square Corporate Finance said, “Knight Warner are a great advert for manufacturing in the region, being a good example of what can be achieved by providing design-led bespoke solutions to assist its clients. We are delighted to have assisted them in this fundraising.”
Kevin Parkin, the former Chief Executive at Davy Markham who joined Knight Warner earlier this year as Managing Director, is investing in the business alongside its founding shareholders Dave Knight, the Commercial Director and Colin Powell, Technical Director.
Kevin Parkin said, “This investment will launch the company on its next stage of rapid growth and ensure that we are able to invest in resources to meet our strategic objectives. The continuous development of our skills base, together with the penetration of new International markets, are key to achieving our future objectives.”
Dave Knight added, “This new investment in the business will give it the boost that our team deserves, after driving through the recession with our technical expertise at the fore. We can now look at further ground-breaking developments in terms of R&D activity, which will be led by our Technical Director Colin Powell.”
Paul Betts, who led the investment for Enterprise Ventures said, “Knight Warner is currently experiencing record levels of orders as a result of earlier significant investment in its patented technology and its development facility in Wyboston. This new funding round will allow the company to build its infrastructure, invest in new products and pursue its strategy of becoming the UK’s leading handling solution provider and a major international player.”
Tom Mawhood of Turning Point said, “An investment in Knight Warner is right in the sweet spot of the investors I work with – this is a manufacturing business with excellent technical and design facilities in the heart of the East Midlands with market-leading products and solutions exportable across the world. The strong management team has provided great confidence in the ability of the business to deliver on its growth prospects.”
