Advent in exclusivity over IPH acquisition from PAI

Kenny Wastell
17 May 2017

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Advent International has entered into exclusivity over the acquisition of industrial supplies provider IPH from PAI Partners.

Following the deal, Advent intends to merge the business with Brammer, a UK provider of industrial components that Advent took private following a £221m bid in November 2016.

The development would bring to an end a four-and-a-half-year holding period for the vendor, during which time IPH increased its revenues from €800m to €1.3bn. According to a joint statement issued by PAI and Advent, the proposed merger would create a consolidated business with more than €2.1bn in revenues.

Under PAI's tenure, IPH undertook an international acquisitive growth strategy. Most recently, the business expanded into the Spanish market, through the acquisitions of Buenaventura Giner, Julsa and Syresa. In January 2016, it expanded its presence in Switzerland by bolting on Montalpina Roulements.

At the time of PAI's initial acquisition, the business had a presence in five European countries. Since then, it has expanded to include operations in 10 more as a result of acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances.

Spokespeople for Advent and PAI declined to comment further on the proposed transaction.

Previous funding
PAI acquired IPH from Investcorp in December 2012 for an estimated €465m. Ardian arranged a €220m unitranche debt facility to support the transaction.

Company
Headquartered in Paris and founded in 1987 as Orefi, IPH is a distributor of industrial supplies to businesses across a range of sectors including heavy industry, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, energy, transport, automotives, petrochemicals and mechanical engineering.

People
Advent International – Shonnel Malani (managing director).
PAI Partners – Nicolas Holzman (partner).
IPH – Pierre Pouletty (chairperson, CEO).