CHAMP PE buys Australian defense sector supplier

The size of the transaction was not disclosed, but CHAMP will work alongside the Ellul family, which established Marand 50 years ago and turned it into a precision tooling business with clients across automotive, aerospace and defense, rail, and mining. The company is headquartered in Moorabbin, Victoria and employs more than 250 people nationwide.

Marand is a global supplier for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. It has also worked with BAE Systems on the Hunter Class Future Frigate line and with McDonnell Douglas on the F/A-18 Hornet Fighter. Other defense projects include electronic decoy rockets and helicopters. In the civil aerospace field, Marand has completed projects for the likes of Boeing and Airbus.

The company’s design and manufacturing capabilities cover feasibility studies and simulation, prototyping, process engineering, machinery and machine tools, and robotics and automated equipment. Clients outside of aerospace and defense include Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Sinotruk, BHP Billiton, and Rio Tinto.

"Over five decades, Marand has evolved from a machine tools and equipment supplier to the automotive industry to being recognized as Australia's leading precision engineering company and Australia's largest supplier into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program,” David Ellul, Marand’s executive chairman, said in a statement. “We consider CHAMP to be a fantastic custodian of the business, who will help ensure Marand maintains its innovative culture and reaches its full potential." 

Australia’s defense budget is expected to rise from A$35.2 billion ($25 billion) in 2017-2018 to A$40.6 billion in 2020-2021, in accordance with a policy directive that it should account for 2% of GDP. This goal was introduced in a 2016 white paper that outlined how the country needed to upgrade its security capabilities to address the growing economic importance of the Indo-Pacific region.

CHAMP is currently investing its fourth fund, which closed in 2017 at A$735 million. There have been eight investments prior to Marand: foreign exchange broker Pepperstone, logistics software provider Containerchain, shipping business StraitNZ, used car wholesaler Dutton Group, construction industry supplier Jaybro, debt collector Panthera Finance, food distributor Gourmet Food Holdings, and cord blood bank Cell Care.

A first exit came towards the end of last year when Pepperston’s founders and senior management completed a buyout in conjunction with Fiona Lock, a managing director at CHAMP.

The private equity firm is expected to launch its fifth fund in the second half of 2019.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Buyouts
• Industrials
• Australia
• CHAMP Private Equity
• manufacturing
• Defense & aerospace