Sheffield-headquartered Independent Forgings & Alloys (IFA) – one of the UK’s leading independent aerospace and industrial forgers - has acquired Doncasters Precision Forgings from the Doncasters Group.

In March 2018, BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, invested £8.5m in IFA. DPF was identified as a strategic acquisition opportunity as part of the business’ growth ambitions to reach £50m sales.

Operating from a 250,000ft facility in Sheffield, IFA manufactures high-integrity, open-die forged components for OEMs and tier-one suppliers within the aerospace, nuclear, power generation, marine and oil and gas sectors. The deal will increase capacity threefold to 680,000ft², as well as expanding the combined business’ capabilities. For customers, this will create a one-stop-shop as the only Western forge with open-die, closed-die, ring-rolling, hammer forging and rotary forging located on a single site. IFA itself was acquired by the current management team from Doncasters Group in 2001.

[caption id="attachment_31225" align="alignright" width="368"] IFA site, Sheffield[/caption]

Andy McGuinness, CEO at IFA, said: “This deal provides a number of strategic and operational benefits for IFA, which ideally positions us for further growth and cross-selling opportunities. By expanding our physical footprint with the DPF site, the additional capacity will give the business a boost from day one.”

Barry Jackson, an investor at BGF, added: “IFA continues to build on Sheffield’s forging heritage by innovating and identifying growth opportunities for the company. We’re pleased to be supporting a capable management team on this acquisition which further strengthens IFA’s position in the market as the go-to aerospace and industrial forger.”

BGF was set up in 2011 and has invested more than £2bn in over 300 companies, making it the most active investor in the UK and Ireland.

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