Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) have advised the shareholders of Midland Steel Traders (MST) on the sale of the company to a large international manufacturer and supplier to MST which has global operations, called ITR USCO, based in Modena, Italy. 

MST specialises in the supply of tracks, parts, buckets and repairs for earthmoving and construction machinery. As a longstanding North East business, founded in 1963, it is headquartered in Birtley and has other local operations in Sunderland as well as sites further afield in Glasgow and Birmingham.

Paul Whitehall, one of the sellers of MST, added:

"We were really impressed by the expertise, professionalism and hard work by the teams at UNW and WBD. Our gratitude goes out to them for a job well done. This is an important deal for the future of MST and under the ongoing management team of Rory Whitehall, Alan Montgomery and Nick Fagandini, we wish the business every success in the hands of its new owner."

WBD's Corporate team was led by Will Bonas (Managing Associate) alongside Ben Butler (Partner) and David Ridley (Solicitor). The wider multi-disciplinary team at WBD included Lorraine Heard (Employment), Lydia Armstrong (Real Estate), Michael Spence (Scots Law Real Estate), Paul Rosenzweig (Pensions) and Ronan Lowney (Tax) with trainee support from Jamie Turley.
 
Will Bonas, Managing Associate in the Corporate team at WBD, commented:

"We are delighted to have worked with the shareholders of MST on this sale and to have advised on the transition of the business, with its strong, continuing management team into the buyer, ITR USCO. The MST deal continues to demonstrate our strong commitment to supporting local entrepreneurs and business owners in the North East, where we are heavily invested as a business. Our Corporate team is building further on a successful year in 2018 where we advised on numerous deals across the North East, worth in excess of £1bn, re-confirming our position as the region's leading corporate team amongst law firms."