A Manchester corporate finance adviser has helped broker an £81m refinancing for an international engineering business.

WT Burdens is a £350m turnover family and employee-owned business which supplies products and logistical support for the civil engineering sector.

It recruited Manchester-based a2e Venture Catalysts to secure a refinancing package with new lenders GE Capital and Lloyds Banking Group.

GE provided £65m, while Lloyds provided £16m.

Additional clearing facilities have also been provided by The Co-Operative Bank.

Bristol-based Burdens, which has a sales office in Bolton and depots in Manchester and Warrington, has more than 1,100 staff and also has operations in Ireland, Australia and Dubai.

Chief executive Jeremy Burden said the company had achieved a 15 per cent rise in sales in 2011/12.

He said: “With further growth anticipated, we wanted to choose funding partners that would understand our unique business model and provide the necessary support to us.”

Amin Amiri, managing director of a2e, was strategic and corporate adviser to Burdens.

He said: “This was a highly successful refinancing for Burdens that will send a clear message to the market that the company is ready for the challenges of the future.”

Mr Amiri is a former head of corporate finance at architects Grant Thornton who went on to found a2e Venture Catalysts in 2001.

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