Commonwealth Bank provided Coote Engineering with an $8 million cash advance facility to allow Coote to buy Swedish diesel engine manufacturer Hedemora Diesel AB.

To celebrate the event, Commonwealth even paid for some advertising to announce the deal through national newspapers. These ads at least shed light on the fact of the bank’s association with funding Coote, which is probably one of the most media shy companies in the country. What else to expect from a privately held government contractor who is involved in the production of the Collins class submarines?

When The Sheet contacted employees working for either Coote Engineering, or for its main subsidiary GTSA Engineering, to ask about the company’s web address, none of the people contacted could provide us with the answer. We now know there isn’t a web address. For some unknown reason nobody has actually told the employees, with the most heard answer being “I am sure we have one, I just don’t know what it is”. (GTSA Engineering has one, Coote Engineering UK is not related).

Coote Engineering is partly owned by founding engineer Mike Coote, who also controls Coote Industrial, a company fully owned by himself and other members of the Coote family. According to our sources, Coote Engineering employs over 100 staff and makes around $25 million in annual turnover, which makes the Hedemora acquisition a sizeable one for the company.

Hedemora supplies the diesel engines for the Collins class submarines. No further details about Coote’s CBA banking facility were available.