BOSSES of an engineering firm with widespread European links stay in charge after its £55 million sale to a private equity business.

Hermes Private Equity has acquired Dartford-based Beck & Pollitzer with debt provided by The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Beck and Pollitzer specialises in the installation and relocation of industrial plant and machinery across the UK and mainland Europe.

The firm is benefiting from the switch by Western European manufacturers to plants in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as high levels of investment and installations in those growing markets.

It has 15 offices in the UK, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia, and employs 300 people. It recently moved into Turkey.

Hermes Private Equity is backing the existing management team of chairman Michael Barry, managing director Norman Davies, finance director Stephen Slater and business development director Tony Percival.

Mr Barry said: "Our strong brand and market leadership position is an excellent platform on which to build our presence further in a very fragmented market. We look forward to continuing the development of a global business serving a wide range of multi-national blue-chip companies."

Tim Thomas of Hermes Private Equity, said Beck & Pollitzer’s senior management team had an excellent track record for delivering growth, and he looked forward to supporting the business in its next stage of development.

Paul Wood, senior director with RBS Corporate and Structured Finance, added: "The RBS team worked to a tight timescale in order to provide flexible and competitive debt facilities for the deal."