Garry Metcalfe, managing director of M&E firm ABB Building Systems, led a management buyout this week from its Swiss parent ABB Group.
The company has been rebranded as Inviron and will be the only building services firm that is completely owned by its management.

Metcalfe will continue to head the company as managing director, along with fellow directors Keith Gilliver and John Ryan O'Brien.

Metcalfe said that the company would continue to trade with its existing customers, using the same staff. He said: "The Inviron staff will be part of a team driven by the needs of our customers and will be involved in the company directly through ownership."

He said that the new name and logo would give the company a noticeable image over the next year. He said: "Our name is strong, dynamic and unique, and reinforces the fact that we have the specialist knowledge to create, improve and maintain environments."

Metcalfe stated that the company would be less bureaucratic and more flexible, and that it would be structured around four businesses: facilities management and services, building systems, climate systems and marine systems.

Metcalfe added that he intended to build on the existing customer relationship. He said: "Customers, many of whom have strategic preferred partner agreements in place, have been contacted during the process to provide input, and suppliers have been updated to ensure continuity."

The company will retail more than 800 staff, with headquarters in Birmingham and regional offices in Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Washington, Ipswich, Norwich, Derby, and London.

Building first revealed that Swiss giant ABB Group had put its UK M&E subsidiary up for sale in June 2002. The move came after the company axed more than 200 jobs in the UK as part of a restructuring process.

The ABB management team was told that it had been selected as preferred bidder last October and beat off three other firms vying to buy the £100m company.

Originally, ABB was hoping to sell off its entire building systems division in one chunk. However, the UK management team sought independence when some Scandinavian sections were sold off.