UK mid-market firm Dunedin has capped off the turnround of aviation equipment supplier Gardner Group, which it bought out of receivership on the eve of the Iraq war, by selling it to US buyout house Carlyle Group for £50m (€63m) amid the financial crisis.

Dunedin bought in Gardner in 2003 from listed parent company Gardner PLC, which was in administration, for £16m and brought in Rolls-Royce as a minority investor in 2005. Lenders to Carlyle were HSBC and General Electric.