AXA PE nears €1bn Fives deal

The parties are reportedly close to reaching a formal agreement after a sale process that saw AXA Private Equity beating rival buyout houses including Cinven, PAI partners and BC Partners. The deal is understood to value Fives at more than €1bn.

AXA Private Equity declined to comment for the time being.

Charterhouse bought international industrial engineering group Fives (then Fives-Lille) from Barclays Private Equity for an estimated €450m in 2006. This was the company's third LBO: in 2001, Industri Kapital (IK) delisted Fives-Lille in an offer that valued the enterprise at around €235m. Barclays PE then bought the business in 2004 for €330m.

The sale to AXA PE would therefore see Charterhouse reaping a substantial profit, days after the GP sold consultancy Wood Mackenzie to Hellman & Friedman for £1.1bn.

It would also allow France to finally break the £1bn buyout mark in 2012; this year's largest deal so far remains the €800m SBO of Alain Afflelou by Lion Capital, announced at the beginning of May.

Founded in 1958, Fives specialises in the manufacture of production lines and turn-key production facilities for the industrial sector. It posted a €1.3bn turnover and €99m EBITDA last year.

 

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• Topics
• France
• Buyouts
• Exits
• France
• Axa Private Equity
• Charterhouse Capital Partners
• Secondary buyout
• Large-cap buyout