ACT Venture Capital has invested £1.5 million sterling in the acquisition of SDC Trailers by MDF Engineering. Powerscreen International recently announced the sale of SDC for £7.25 million sterling. ACT will now have a 23 per cent stake in Retlan, a new holding company which will control SDC and MDF.

SDC, based in Toombridge, Co Antrim, is Ireland's largest truck trailer manufacturer with an estimated 60 per cent market share, and it has a 10 per cent of the British market. MDF, controlled by the Donnelly family, is based in Antrim and is one of SDC's largest suppliers of steel fabrications. Mr John Donnelly is group managing director of Retlan which employs 320 people and has a turnover of some £50 million sterling.