Ardian's Trescal acquires Gebhardt

Financially supported by Ardian, the acquisition of Gebhardt will enable the group to strengthen its activity in Germany, following a series of US-based acquisitions.

This is the latest addition to around 20 bolt-ons completed under Ardian's ownership. A strong focus was placed on North America, where 16 acquisitions were made, the most recent of which was Precision Metrology, acquired last summer.

Other bolt-ons in the region have included Instrument Calibration Services, Master Metrology and Calibration Solutions. Trescal also acquired Italy-based Siemsa and Spain-based Tecnalia in 2014.

Previous funding
Trescal first came under private equity ownership in December 2007, when Astorg Partners drew equity from its €300m third fund to carve the business out from corporate Air Liquide. The spin-off involved Ardian, which supported it with a mezzanine package.

In October 2010, listed player 3i and buyout house TCR Capital acquired the asset from Astorg. The SBO, valuing Trescal at €110m, saw 3i secure a majority stake, while TCR invested from its €161m third fund in return for a minority interest; the management retained a 20% holding.

After backing Trescal's entry into the US market by adding on Dynamic Technology in 2011, 3i and TCR offloaded the asset to Ardian in June 2013. The second SBO valued the company at €250m and led to Ardian controlling a 82% stake, with management holding the balance. Meanwhile, 3i reported €71m in proceeds from its sale, a 2x multiple on its original €36m investment.

Company
Founded in 1993, Gebhardt is a calibration services provider, focusing on dimensional and hardness calibration and measurement. Based in Ruhla, Gebhardt employs 17 people and generates a turnover of €1.2m.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Rungis, France, Trescal provides a broad range of services for the testing and measuring equipment market. The group has subsidiaries in 21 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the US. It also manages 85 calibration laboratories and employs 2,300 people, serving 35,000 customers in various sectors. Its sales amounted to around €225m last year.

People
Ardian – Thibault Basquin, Yann Bak (managing directors); Arnaud Tardan (senior investment manager); Edouard Level (investment manager).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Industrials
• France
• France
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• Build-up