TWO men whose Bolton business makes equipment for science laboratories in schools and universities have sold it for up to '6.3m.

Keith Collier, 61, and David Norris, 35, founded Clean Air in 1994 with four staff.

Now they have cleaned up after the company was acquired by Havelock Europa, a fast-growing quoted firm based in Fife.

Clean Air, based on the Dunscar Industrial Estate, designs and manufactures fume cupboards which remove harmful gases from the atmosphere during chemical experiments. They are used by schools, colleges, universities and pharmaceutical companies.

Turnover at the business, which now employs around 40 people, has grown from '900,000 in 1998 to '4m last year. Around a fifth of its sales came from exports to Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Pre-tax profits totalled '800,000 in 2003.

Trading so far this year is up on 2003 and Clean Air has an encouraging order book for the second half of 2004.

Subsidiary

Managing director Mr Collier was the majority shareholder. The other shareholder was sales director Mr Norris.
The duo, along with contracts director Ian Heatherington, are continuing to run Clean Air as a subsidiary of Havelock.

Mr Collier said: 'The government is putting an awful lot of money into education and some of the contracts being awarded are going to be quite large. This deal will give us a lot more opportunities, as part of a larger group.'

Havelock paid '4.5m in cash, shares and loan notes on completion with a further '1.8m due over the next two years if Clean Air makes annual profits of more than '800,000 and '1m.

Havelock, which has a market value of '42m, specialises in the education supply sector, such as fitted furniture for school laboratories.

Last month, it snapped up Yorkshire-based TeacherBoards (1985) as part of its expansion programme.

Tim Dennis, a partner at Stockport law firm Gorvins, led a team who advised Mr Collier and Mr Norris on the sale.