Ambienta's IP Cleaning buys Vaclensa

Katharina Semke
25 July 2016

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Ambienta portfolio company IP Cleaning has acquired British competitor Vaclensa.

IPC bought Vaclensa to expand its UK business and to strengthen its overall market position in Europe. Ambienta said after two years of improving IP Cleaning through changes in the senior management, the launch of new products and a revisited commercial strategy and marketing, it now aims to make the company a consolidator in the cleaning equipment market.

The acquisition will bring IP Cleaning's revenues to €200m.

Previous funding
In July 2014, environmental investor Ambienta wholly acquired Italian business IP Cleaning via a €50m equity investment. It invested via Ambienta II, which closed on €323.5m in November 2014. The deal also involved a refinancing of existing debt, provided by UniCredit, Intesa, UBI Banca, Banca popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, Banco Popolare, IKB and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

IP Cleaning was formerly owned by BS Private Equity – which went out of business in 2011 – and Sofipa, the investment arm of Unicredit. Italian GP Synergo took over the BS portfolio, simultaneously acquiring the assets of Sofipa.

In 2005, BS and Sofipa had acquired 82.7% of the company alongside its management team. The vendor, Interpump Group, reinvested to take a minority stake, according to unquote" data. In 2006, Interpump sold its 17.3% stake in the company to BS.

Companies
Founded in 1968 and based in Manchester, Vaclensa is a distributor of professional cleaning machines with 100 employees. Vaclensa is a distribution partner for IP Cleaning in the region, and IP Cleaning is a supplier to the company.

IP Cleaning produces machines and equipment for the professional cleaning market. The company manufactures its products in six plants across northern Italy and employs 1,000 staff. Around 90% of sales are achieved outside Italy. The company was established in the early 2000s as the cleaning division of Interpump.

People
Ambienta – Mauro Roversi (partner); Francesco Lodrini (principal); Andrea Venturini (associate).
IP Cleaning – Federico De Angelis (CEO).
Vaclensa – Ian Miller (managing director).

Advisers
Equity – Osborne Clarke (legal), Deloitte (financial due diligence, tax), Eden McCallum (commercial due diligence); Linklaters (legal).
Company – Hill Dickinson (legal); DTE Business Advisers (financial due diligence, tax).