Chiltern is pleased to announce that it has supported the management buyout of Emtez.

Emtez is a UK headquartered designer, manufacturer and distributor of industrial safety products and solutions, currently focussed on environmental protection, spill prevention and EV battery storage. Since being established over three decades ago by founder, Bruce Wishart, Emtez has grown into a leading pan-European operator serving a range of blue-chip customers from sites across the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Belgium.

The management buy-out has been led by David Byrne (CEO) and Jon Hazlewood (CFO). The team will be further bolstered by the introduction of Warwick Ley as Chair. Chiltern will support the team in delivering its exciting plans to broaden Emtez’s product and service offering and make further funding available for targeted M&A.

David Byrne, commented: “It has been 36 years since Bruce launched Emtez, and the quality of people, strength of the brand and the breadth of the product range, made my decision to join and steer the business, a very easy and exciting one. Working very closely with Chiltern on that journey was also a very attractive proposition.”

Bruce Wishart, commented

“Passing the company on to the existing management was a natural decision, the hard part was finding the right partner to assist with this. Chiltern impressed with their supportive approach from the start and the introduction of David Byrne CEO and Jon Hazelwood CFO with Warwick Ley as Chairman gives me full confidence in a bright future. I look forward to supporting them going forward.”

David Butler, Investment Director at Chiltern Capital, added:

“Bruce should be incredibly proud of the legacy that he has built, and we feel privileged to be able to support David, Jon and the rest of the management team with their plans for the next chapter. Due to the ever-increasing need for corporates to address their ESG responsibilities, the importance of a company like Emtez cannot be overstated.”

Chiltern was advised by RSM (Financial DD), Calash (Commercial DD and Environmental DD), PHD Property (Property DD) and Squire Patton Boggs (Legals). Bruce Wishart was advised by Aequitas (Corporate Finance) and Vialex (Legals). Management were advised by DWF.