Schroder buys Lister-Petter for œ80m

Engine manufacturer Lister-Petter, which employs more than 1000 people worldwide, has been bought from BTR by Schroder Ventures and a group of Lister-Petter management for œ80 million.

The company's UK operation is based in Gloucestershire, with operations in the US and France as well as a worldwide distribution network covering 150 countries.

Responsible for manufacturing a wide range of air- and water-cooled industrial diesel and natural gas engines for OEMs and the end user, Lister-Petter customers include: Benford; Gen Set; Gomaco; Manitou; Powerscreen and Moffett.

Schroder Ventures' Phil Tempest, who joins Lister-Petter as chairman, said: "Although Lister-Petter has performed well under BTR, we believe it will benefit from significant opportunities in future, particularly through the geographical exploitation of the Alpha engine range and the agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to manufacture the MHI S4S engine into a power range above that of Alpha."

Lister-Petter md, Terry Sharpe adds: "The most notable change under the new ownership arrangement will be the acceleration of product development.

"Marketplace demands are changing so quickly that shortening product development cycle times is no longer an option - it is a necessity."