The words ‘heritage’ and ‘history’ have cropped up fairly frequently in our 200th anniversary celebrations. But it’s important to note that ‘heritage’ isn’t just a matter of heraldry, traditions and ancestral estates.
One well-known element in the heritage of Edinburgh is its status as a city of invention, enterprise and science. And because science and technology have played an important role in Edinburgh’s history, they’ve also been part of Lindsays’ history.
This continues today. The technology sector is hugely important in Scotland, and Lindsays regularly works with universities, spin-outs and start-ups to help them commercialise their technology and IP assets.
Informatics, smart data and radar technology may have confounded our nineteenth-century clients and lawyers, but the fundamental principles of commercialisation and attracting investors would have been familiar to them. In that sense, our thriving Corporate Group is nothing new.
In addition to helping early-stage companies, we work with companies that are already well established in the international technology sphere. One such is COM DEV, a leading global provider of space hardware and services. Its technology has been used on more than 900 spacecraft to date, including 80% of all commercial communications satellites ever launched.
In 2014 COM DEV acquired 100% of MESL Microwave Ltd, an Edinburgh-based company that manufactures high-reliability components and subsystems for the radar, communications, defence and aerospace industries. Lindsays did the due diligence on the deal for COM DEVwhich intends to leverage MESL’s knowledge and expertise in the aerospace market to gain efficiencies in the space business.
In fact, MESL was already a familiar name to our Corporate & Technology Partner, David Lindgren. Whilst at school, he had asked them for help with accessing some apparatus he required for his sixth-year physics project on microwaves!
David’s sixth-year story ended happily, with MESL agreeing to help him out. And so did the 2014 MESL story. The deal, worth £12.8 million, was completed successfully in December 2014 and we continue to work with COM DEV.
