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Newton Aycliffe subsea firm lands £1.6m funding to fuel future contract wins

Newton Aycliffe’s Tekmar Energy has secured a £1.6m loan from the Tees Valley Catalyst Fund, managed by FW Capital.

The subsea cable protection systems firm will use the loan to fund the bonds required to secure contracts worth £15m in the offshore wind sector in the UK and Europe.

Recently moving to a new 75,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility on Aycliffe Business Park, Tekmar operates in a range of sectors. Offshore wind, oil and gas are of particular focus with the company working with large European energy companies such as Statoil, Statkraft and Dong Energy.

FW Capital worked closely with Barclays and the company’s shareholders to structure a financial package to support Tekmar’s continued growth.

Explaining the impact of the loan from the Tees Valley Catalyst Fund on the company’s future, Sue Hurst, Tekmar’s Finance Director said: “The Tees Valley Catalyst Fund has provided essential support in our growth plans and our ability to take on new contracts.

“We are regularly asked to provide performance bonds and warranty bonds, particularly for our larger offshore wind contracts, and FW Capital engaged with us, working with our bank and investors, to provide essential support in securing this work.”

Tekmar has been designing and manufacturing bespoke cable protection solutions for nearly 30 years. Today it has a well-established research and development capabilities and has been ‘first to market’ with products like TekLink and TekTube.

With the offshore wind sector set to provide massive opportunities for companies in the North East in the coming years, Tekmar hopes to build on recent successes and continue to act as vanguard for the region.

Chris Johnson, FW Capital Investment Executive, said: “Tekmar is a well-established business on an exciting growth path. The company is a market leader with an excellent reputation, innovative products as well as a wealth of specialist knowledge and expertise.

“Tekmar operates in a sector with huge future potential and is really is flying the flag for the North East. Winning these contracts is excellent news for the company, its employees and local suppliers. I’m pleased that the loan from the Tees Valley Catalyst Fund has played a key role in this.”

The Tees Valley Catalyst Fund was conceived by Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU), the Local Enterprise Partnership for the Tees Valley to provide companies in the Tees Valley with the finance to grow and prosper. In October 2015 the fund was widened to businesses across the North East and in parts of North Yorkshire.

David Collins, Barclays Relationship Director, said: “Tekmar is a market leader operating a state of the art manufacturing facility to meet the needs of the changing oil and gas and renewables industry. As they continue to secure contracts in both the UK and overseas this deal has secured further growth and jobs for the North East and we look forward to supporting the company as they continue their growth strategy.