Glasgow-headquartered Walker Precision Engineering, an aerospace and defence components manufacturer, is being sold to New York-listed Karman Space & Defense in a deal that hands growth investor BGF an exit from a minority stake first taken in 2017.
Karman, announcing the transaction at the Farnborough Airshow on Monday, put total consideration at approximately $94 million, or around £70 million.
Walker, founded in 1979 and based at Glasgow East Investment Park, makes precision-machined and electromechanical parts for missile seekers, guidance and control systems used on more than 25 European Union tactical missile, air and defence programmes. Alongside its Glasgow headquarters, the group runs sites in England and Poland.
The deal is Karman’s first outside the United States, adding to a footprint of 17 sites across eight US states, and gives the group a European manufacturing base at a time when demand from EU and allied missile programmes is climbing.
BGF, which has held its minority stake since 2017, said Walker had “more than doubled annual revenues” during its ownership and expanded operations in the UK and mainland Europe, including specialist machinery, a purpose-built facility in Basildon and increased capacity at its Polish plant.
Michael Berger, portfolio director at BGF, said the firm had been “privileged to support the team for the last eight years of its journey to becoming an indispensable partner to the UK defence sector, from multiple rounds of investment to augmenting its management team,” adding that “joining Karman is an excellent long-term fit for the business.”
Walker chief executive George Adams said the BGF relationship had been “instrumental in helping Walker reach this stage of growth,” providing “valuable strategic guidance while allowing us to retain our long-term vision and culture as a family business.” Joining Karman, he said, would allow the company to build on eight years of investment “in our people, facilities and capabilities” as a manufacturing partner to the aerospace, defence and space sectors.
Karman chief executive Jon Rambeau said Walker’s “strong missile- and aviation-related capabilities and programmatic relationships with the largest European space and defence prime contractors will increase our addressable market.”
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Karman said the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to revenue, backlog, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings per share and cash flow, with completion targeted for the third quarter of its fiscal 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
