Braime Group Leeds brings 40-year electronics supplier in-house as Hunslet Road manufacturer secures supply chain and intellectual property

Leeds-headquartered manufacturer Braime Group Leeds has completed the acquisition of Don Electronics and its subsidiary Synatel Instrumentation for an initial £5 million in cash, bringing two long-standing suppliers into the AIM-listed group. The deal, funded by a new £5.2 million HSBC term loan, includes deferred consideration of £4.9 million payable over three years plus performance-linked contingent payments over a further three years. Braime estimates the total nominal consideration at £13.1 million based on management projections, though the contingent element is uncapped.

What Braime Is Buying

Don Electronics, based in Yeadon, is a specialist embedded electronics design and manufacturing company with particular expertise in hazardous area products for bulk material handling, heat tracing, and industrial process control. It reported revenue of £7.1 million and pre-tax profit of £1.6 million for the year to March 2025. Synatel Instrumentation, which Don Electronics itself only acquired in February 2026, reported revenue of £3.5 million and pre-tax profit of £400,000 for the same period. Between them, the two businesses supply electronic component parts to the Braime Group Leeds and have done so for more than 40 years.

The acquisition rationale is vertical integration: securing control of a key supply chain, capturing the margin Braime currently pays to these suppliers, and bringing their intellectual property and product development capability inside the group. Braime estimates the fair value of net assets acquired at £9 million including intangible assets. The deal is expected to enhance profitability through captured margin rather than generating significant new revenue in the short term.

“Both Don Electronics and Synatel have strong reputations for quality and engineering capability, and we are delighted to welcome their teams into the Group. These two businesses have been long-standing suppliers to our Group with whom we have worked for over 40 years and bringing them into the Braime family marks an important milestone.”

— Nicholas Braime, Chairman, Braime Group

The Braime Group Story

Braime Group has been based on Hunslet Road in Leeds since 1888, when Thomas Braime began manufacturing oilcans in a small workshop. The company’s distinctive red brick and terracotta headquarters — which has featured as a location in BBC’s Peaky Blinders — remains the group’s base today. The business evolved from oilcans into deep drawn steel presswork, supplying parts for the automotive and military sectors, before launching its 4B division in the 1970s specialising in bulk material handling components. Today the group operates in more than 80 countries through subsidiaries in the US, France, South Africa, Australia, Thailand, China, the UAE, and Indonesia. Hill Dickinson, Armstrong Watson, and Moore Kingston Smith advised Braime on the deal. Zeus Capital acted as nominated adviser and broker.

Why this matters for Leeds

Braime Group is one of the oldest continuously operating manufacturers in Leeds, trading from Hunslet Road since 1888. This acquisition is a textbook vertical integration move: rather than continuing to buy electronic components from Don Electronics and Synatel, Braime is bringing them inside the group to capture the margin and secure the IP. Don Electronics is itself a Leeds business, based in Yeadon. The combined revenues of the two acquired businesses (£10.6 million) add meaningful scale to a group already operating in 80 countries — a reminder that Leeds still produces manufacturers with genuine global reach.