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CVC in exclusive talks for Astorg’s Linxens

José Rojo
01 July 2015

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CVC Capital Partners has entered exclusive talks for the acquisition of French smartcard-connector manufacturer Linxens from Astorg Partners.

Information regarding enterprise value remains confidential, although market sources place it around the €1.5bn mark.

CVC has yet to disclose the amount it will invest in the business. The firm's sixth fund, used to finance the acquisition, typically deploys a minimum of $150m in equity. Drawing 90% of its commitments from previous backers, the vehicle hit its €10.5bn target in June 2013, six months after launch.

The transaction, subject to consultation of works councils, was initiated by CVC managing partner Bertrand Meunier and partner Jean-Christophe Germani, according to sources close to the deal. Contact was made with Linxens' management and the auction process could thus be pre-empted, these same sources report.

Linxens is a smartcard-connector manufacturer targeting clients within the consumer and industrial electronics, automotive and telecommunication infrastructures markets. The business operates five production sites and three research and development centres in France and Asia.

The company was established in 1982 as MCTS, and was renamed FCI Microelectronics in 1999. A second rebranding took place in October 2011, when the company became Linxens after it was acquired by Astorg from Bain Capital, which had bought the business for €1.07bn in 2005.

The secondary buyout, financed via Astorg's €1.05bn fifth fund, was believed to value the company in the region of €600m, according to unquote" data. The transaction, supported by a €320m debt package from Goldman Sachs, Nomura and RBC, followed a Citigroup- and Goldman Sachs-run auction process initiated in August 2011.

Under Astorg's tenure, Linxens' turnover has grown from €202m at the time of the 2011 buyout to €253 in 2014, 59% of which was generated in Asia. The business has also increased its workforce from 670 employees to 1,100.