Thales-MESL Ltd., a manufacturer of microwave components for the communications and defence industries, has been acquired from Thales Holdings UK plc, a subsidiary of Thales SA, by a combination of industrial investors, Lars McBride, Anthony Smith and William Buist-Wells. The company will in the future be known as MESL Microwave Ltd.
MESL Microwave is headquartered near Edinburgh and is one of Europe’s leading designers and manufacturers of microwave components and subsystems, principally supplying customised solutions used in telecommunications base stations, point-to-point radio links and military radar systems. Specific products include high power (waveguide) ferrite components, diplexers, circulators/isolators and SAW pulse compression components. The company will continue to be run on a day-to-day basis by its current managing director Mike Huggan and his existing management team. Anthony Smith will become chairman and Lars McBride and William Buist-Wells will join the board as directors.
Mike Huggan recently joined MESL Microwave as managing director after a distinguished career in the microwave industry holding various positions at Andrew Corp. and e2v.
Anthony Smith is a metallurgist who worked for Fairchild Semiconductor Inc. in California before returning to the UK to found Columbia-Staver Ltd., a manufacturer of heat sinks. Lars McBride and William Buist-Wells are industrial investors who partnered with Anthony Smith in Columbia-Staver. They also have a portfolio of other companies including Calder Group and Pyros Environmental.
Commenting on the acquisition of MESL Microwave Anthony Smith said, “MESL has an excellent reputation as a manufacturer of custom microwave components and can count many of the world’s leading telecoms and defence companies among its customers. With Mike Huggan and his team we have widely experienced management keen to grow the business both in developed markets and in China where we already manufacture. We are looking forward to supporting the company with substantially increased levels of capital investment.”