Cheltenham-based Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc has now signed a binding definitive agreement to acquire the Vulcanic group of companies (Vulcanic) from Qualium, a French private equity company.

The thermal energy management and niche pumping specialist has agreed to purchase the group for €261.7 million (£225.5m), on a cash and debt free basis, subject to customary closing adjustments.

Vulcanic was established in 1973, and is said to be the largest supplier in Europe of bespoke industrial electric heating solutions.

The business is headquartered in Paris, France, with ten manufacturing facilities worldwide and more than 700 employees, of whom almost 90 per cent are based in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

Signature of the definitive agreement follows the conclusion of exclusive negotiations announced on July 4, 2022.

When initial negotiations were revealed, Nicholas Anderson, group chief executive of Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc, said: "We are looking forward to welcoming colleagues from Vulcanic into our group.

"We have been following Vulcanic for some time and believe the acquisition represents an excellent opportunity to broaden our addressable market and further deploy our industry leading technologies in Europe.

"Vulcanic's existing strength and scale in Europe - with further investment by our Group - will provide a fantastic platform for growth, especially for our recently launched portfolio of TargetZero solutions, which electrify heat generation for industrial processes to support our customers' decarbonisation objectives."

As previously reported, the transaction will require regulatory approvals in France and Germany. These regulatory approvals and completion are expected during the third quarter of the year.