BNP Paribas emerges as investor in 3i's Formel D

According to company filings, a roughly €20m equity commitment was made by BNP in a co-investment vehicle managed by 3i. BNP Paribas Principal Investments manages BNP’s portfolio of listed and unlisted investments and emerging market sovereign debt.

3i announced that it had completed its acquisition of Formel D, a global service provider to the automotive and component supply industry, from DBAG earlier this week.

3i also introduced Citic Capital China Partners III, a buyout fund managed by the private equity arm of Citic Capital Holdings, as an investment partner. Citic invested around €72m in the company and 3i’s investment is around €155m.

The deal was backed by a €179m senior secured debt package which included a seven-year €134m term loan B arranged by IKB, ING, CA-CIB, SocGen and Raiffeisen.  

According to 3i, Formel D represents an attractive international growth opportunity through rolling out its existing services to clients in other geographies, expanding its client base in Asia, and increasing its higher value-add services such as vehicle test specification and virtual testing.

Founded in 1993, Formel D is a support services company based in Munich. It provides quality assurance, re-tooling and post-processing services to automobile manufacturers and their suppliers.

The company employs 7,200 people (2,500 of whom are based in Germany) and generates sales of €250m. In total, 50% of the company's revenues are generated in Germany, 25% in the rest of Europe and 25% in the Americas and Asia.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Deals
• Co-investments