Perkins seeking a buyer for Gardner
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EXCLUSIVE El Engine manufacturer Gardner is up for sale. Parent company Perkins has sent tender documents to potential bidders and an offer of £8m is understood to have been made.
Possible buyers for the Manchester company could include Mitchell Diesels, the Sutton-inAshfield-based engine reconditioning specialist, and Trinity Holdings, which owns Dennis Specialist Vehicles, many of whose Dominator buses are fitted with Gardners.
A management buy-in could also be on the cards, led by Paul Gardner, of the founding family. He left during the 1980s to set up his own engine reconditioning company, Paul Gardner Engineering, which has a throughput of 250 engines a year.
Gardner Engines general manager, Peter Whitaker, stresses the profitability of the operation — production is currently running at some 250 a year, bolstered by 70 home and 48 overseas bus engine orders from Dennis and ERF.