Five Scottish mid market companies backed by private equity

We look at five Mid Market 200 companies, backed by Private Equity investment, and profile their activities

Private equity interest in Scotland’s mid-market, ranging from travel and tourism to heavy engineering.

placeholder image — Credit Rabbie's | Credit Rabbie's

Here we look at five companies which illustrate the diversity of private equity investment in Scotland’s Mid Market 200 ranking.

At one end sits RoslinCT, an Edinburgh biotech built on Scotland's world-leading cell science heritage and now backed by London-headquartered healthcare specialist GHO Capital Partners.

At the other, Welding Engineers, a Glasgow industrial fabricator, represents Foresight's appetite for resilient manufacturing capacity serving heavy industry.

Hydrasun, the largest of the thirteen by turnover, shows what a mature, sector-specialist buyout looks like.

SCF Partners, a Houston-based energy investor, has built the Aberdeen fluid-transfer specialist into part of a wider platform, D2zero, aimed squarely at the North Sea's energy transition.

It is a reminder that not all the capital arriving in Scotland's mid-market is generalist, some of it is highly targeted sector expertise crossing the Atlantic.

Rabbie's Trail Burners offers a different model again.

A homegrown Edinburgh tour operator, backed by Piper, competing in international tourism on the strength of Scotland's own visitor economy rather than any technology or industrial edge.

And 2i, the Edinburgh software testing and QA consultancy backed by Rockpool Investments, is the clearest example in the cohort of buy-and-build in action, its recent acquisition of Planit UK created the UK's largest pure-play quality assurance business virtually overnight.

These five span biotech, engineering, energy services, tourism and software.

Different sectors with different investor profiles but what unites them is what they say about the maturity of Scotland's PE market.

It is increasingly comfortable backing specialist, technical businesses rather than only asset-heavy or consumer-facing ones.

Roslin CT

Backed by: GHO Capital Partners

Founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the Roslin Institute, RoslinCT is a leading UK Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) for advanced cell therapies, operating GMP facilities at Edinburgh BioQuarter for an international pharma and biotech client base.

GHO Capital Partners, the London-based healthcare specialist, invested in 2022 to accelerate international expansion and capacity.

Latest figures show turnover up 55.7 per cent to £27.5m, with EBITDA up 39.5 per cent to £2.52m.

Welding Engineers (Holdings) Limited

Backed by: Foresight

Founded in Glasgow in the 1960s, Welding Engineers is a family business specialising in the service, repair, maintenance, fabrication and installation of industrial doors and shutters, employing 180 people across six UK branches.

Foresight invested in December 2025, its fifth Scottish SME deal that year.

Latest figures show turnover up 15.6 per cent to £20.3m and EBITDA up seven per cent to £3.6m.

Hydrasun LimitedBacked by: SCF Partners

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Aberdeen, Hydrasun is a global leader in fluid transfer, power and control solutions for the energy and marine sectors.

SCF Partners invested in 2021, and in 2024 folded Hydrasun into D2zero, a £500m decarbonisation platform alongside Score Group, Fuel Cell Systems, Powerstar and Global E&C, with founder Bob Drummond moving up to lead the group and Neil Thompson taking over as Hydrasun's CEO.

Latest figures show turnover of £78.2m, down 23.3 per cent, with EBITDA down 37.8 per cent to £6.68m.

Rabbie's Trail Burners

Backed by: Piper Private Equity

Founded in 1993 by Robin Worsnop with a single 16-seater mini-coach, Rabbie's is the UK's leading small-group cultural adventures brand, running tours across the UK and Europe with almost 100 vehicles.

Piper made a £7m minority investment in 2022 with Worsnop currently listed as non-executive director.

Latest figures show turnover up 8 per cent to £25m, with EBITDA up 26.6 per cent to £4.36m.

2i Limited

Backed by: Rockpool Investments

Edinburgh-based 2i provides quality engineering services that de-risk clients' digital transformation programmes, serving public sector and blue-chip customers with mission-critical IT systems.

Rockpool Investments backed the business in April 2024, since then 2i has made two bolt-on acquisitions, nFocus in late 2024, then Planit UK, creating the UK's largest pure-play QA business at around 600 staff.

2i's own turnover grew 10.7 per cent to £25.5m, though EBITDA fell 17.4 per cent.