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Charles Noall, President and CEO of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, says: “We are delighted to close this hugely over-subscribed refinancing process. It is a major vote of confidence in the company and our strategy to invest alongside clients to provide them with the requisite technical capabilities to deliver exceptional results."

In under four years, Element has made seven strategically important acquisitions which combined with strong underlying organic growth has resulted in the Group being 2.5 times larger than it was when 3i completed the buyout of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in December 2010.  Element has built a market leadership position for materials testing in the US and globally for Aerospace testing.

Concluding, ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s Chief Financial Officer, Jo Wetz, adds: “We believe that there is a compelling case for further consolidation in the materials testing space. The refinancing provides us with the flexibility and capacity to make further acquisitions when they align with our overall strategic goals.

“The success of the refinancing was delivered with the same strong support from 3i that the business has enjoyed over the last three years and some excellent execution from our lead banking relationships.”

ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½’s success in continuing to consolidate the fragmented global materials testing market was once again demonstrated with the recent acquisition of Accutek Testing Laboratory, in Cincinnati, OH, a specialist materials testing business with extensive experience serving both the Aerospace and Medical Device sectors. When the acquisition completed in July, Accutek became the company’s 43rd laboratory worldwide and increased its headcount to 1,540.