The company that helps British Army tanks get a grip in the desert is marching toward new contracts after being bought by its management.

Sheffield-based engineering group William Cook Holdings last night sold William Cook Defence (WCD) and its subsidiary William Cook Intermodal to its management team for an undisclosed sum. WCD designs and manufactures track and running gear for armoured fighting vehicles, such as Challenger tanks.

The management buyout (MBO) has been backed by Bank of Scotland Corporate through a debt and equity package. The businesses have an annual turnover of around £30m and employ 230 staff in Stanhope, County Durham. Phil Kite, the managing director of WCD, who led the MBO, said yesterday: "This is an ideal opportunity for the management team to build on the success of the past. WCD has recently won two major export contracts and we will be focusing our efforts on expanding the number of countries in which it conducts business."

William Cook Holdings was founded in Glasgow in the mid 19th century, and moved to Sheffield in 1902. It began as a traditional 'steel-bashing' business and grew throughout the 1980s and 1990s to offer more sophisticated products in the engineering, rail and defence sectors. Recent projects have included Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Natural History Museum. Listed on the London Stock Exchange for 40 years, it was taken private by chairman, Andrew Cook, in 1997. Mr Cook had to fend off a hostile takeover bid by competitor Triplex Lloyd. In the year ended March 31 2006, William Cook Holdings had sales of around £90m. It employs 1,000 staff at sites in Yorkshire, County Durham and Staffordshire.

The WCD deal was structured and arranged for Bank of Scotland Corporate by Donald Fowler, Mike Allen, Tony Norwood and Mark Watson. The corporate finance team at Deloitte in Leeds, led by partner Roger Esler and Mark Keeley, Caroline Atkinson and Jamie Rigby advised the bank's integrated finance team. Robin Johnson, Keith Froud and Claire Broomhead of Eversheds in Leeds provided legal advice.

The management team was advised by Dave Irwin, Jim Whittaker and Andy Miller at McInnes Corporate Finance in Leeds and by Martin Hulls and Julie Harrison at Ward Hadaway, Newcastle. The vendor was advised by N M Rothschilds in Leeds led by James Fenwick and Stephen Griffiths and by Neil Thompson of DLA Piper Rudnick Carey in Sheffield.

Mr Esler said that keeping a strong management team and securing long term funding were vital for any business working in the defence sector. Mr Whittaker said: "William Cook Defence is a great example of how specialist manufacturing is still very much alive and well. The nature of this business means that their products must be made to the highest possible specification, and the company has a fantastic reputation for quality. This deal will allow them to grow and thrive as an independent business."

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