Mobeus Equity Partners realised its investment in MachineWorks Software through a trade sale.
MachineWorks is the leading developer of simulation and verification toolkit technology used in Computer Aided Manufacturing.
Original Deal
We originally invested £1.9m in the management buyout of Lightwork Design and Machineworks, a group of two companies known together as VSI Limited, in 2006. At the time, MachineWorks had a dominant market position supplying CAM software vendors and was starting to penetrate the machine tool market.
Impact
MachineWorks was consistently profitable and cash generative, leading to repayment of all of the MBO loans by 2011. The business made significant inroads with large machine tool customers enabling it to be seen as a strategic partner by these businesses.
Sale
In April 2014, the company was sold to a Europe-based trade buyer for an undisclosed sum.
Mobeus Returns
The investment returned nearly £7m to the Mobeus advised VCTs, generating a return of 4.1x cost.
