Deals

Lehman buys Carlyle stake in metals business

Lehman Brothers Co-Investment Partners, the co-investment fund of US bank Lehman Brothers, has joined The Carlyle Group as a shareholder in Firth Rixson, a metal manufacturing business Carlyle acquired in 2003.

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Lehman Brothers Co-Investment Partners, the co-investment arm of the US bank’s private fund investments operations, has acquired a stake in a metal products business owned by The Carlyle Group.

Lehman Brothers Co-Investment Partners paid an undisclosed sum for a 36 percent sake in Firth Rixson, a provider of forged, cast and specialist metal products for the aerospace and industrial markets.

White & Case and Deloitte & Touche advised Lehman Brothers Co-Investment Partners. Carlyle was advised by Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Latham & Watkins and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Lehman Brothers was the lead underwriter for debt in the transaction.

Carlyle acquired Firth Rixson in a take-private in February 2003 in a transaction valuing the business at approximately £106 million (€157 million). As part of the transaction, Firth Rixson was merged with Forged Metals, a California-based specialty manufacturer to the aerospace market and Carlyle portfolio company. Further acquisitions were made, including TRT in November 2003 and Schlosser Forge Company in October 2004.

Firth Rixson, which has European headquarters in Sheffield, UK, and US headquarters in Connecticut, operates fifteen franchises in the UK, US, Europe and Asia. The company employs approximately 2,000 people.