Equistone to acquire Heras

Katharine Hidalgo
24 July 2019

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Equistone will acquire property protection specialist Heras from building materials company CRH.

The GP is currently investing from Equistone Partners Europe Fund VI, which held its final close on €2.8bn. The fund seeks to invest €25-200m in western European lower-mid-market companies with enterprise values typically between €50-500m.

The vendor, CRH, announced it was aiming to sell up to €2bn in non-core assets in 2018.

Following the carve-out from CRH, Heras plans to pursue a buy-and-build strategy and achieve organic growth through the development of new products, services and customer relationships.

The company generates annual sales of more than €220m.

Company
Headquartered in Oirschot, Heras offers a portfolio of mobile and permanent asset protection systems and products. These include fence systems, manually operated and automatic gates, vehicle barriers and electronic surveillance systems. Founded in 1952, the company has sales offices in the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. The company operates production facilities in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden and the UK. Heras employs more than 1,100 people.

People
Equistone – Hubert van Wolfswinkel (director); Dirk Schekerka (senior partner).
Heras – Gilles Rabot (managing director).

Advisers
Equity – Munich Strategy (commercial due diligence); EY (financial, IT & operational due diligence, tax); Clifford Chance (legal); ERM (environmental due diligence); Houlihan Lokey (M&A, debt advisory).
Vendor – JP Morgan (corporate finance).