The sale of Derby-based Gardner Aerospace (www.gardner-aerospace.com), which counts Rolls-Royce and Airbus among its customers, has been completed.

Ligeance Investments — a subsidiary of Chinese group Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources (SLMR) — agreed in April to buy Gardner Aerospace from Better Capital for £326 million.

The latter acquired Gardner in 2010 after it failed to secure investment to fund on-going losses; under Better Capital’s ownership, the component supplier has boosted its turnover to £132 million.

Gardner Aerospace is headquartered in Derby and has facilities in Hull, Basildon, Pershore (Worcestershire)
and Broughton (Flintshire).

It also has sites in France, Poland and India. SLMR is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The acquisition will bolster its presence in Europe, as well as its offering in the aerospace and industrial gas turbine sectors.