AutoForm sees Permira join bidder pool ahead of NBOs next week

Onex is also expected to bid for the Astorg-backed asset, one of the sources added. NBOs are due on 1 November, the four sources said.

Carlyle, KKR, EQT, Hellman & Friedman and Francisco Partners – which owns automotive specialist CDK Global – were previously reported as potential bidders.

Hg and Advent held talks about acquiring the asset, but are understood to have reduced their interest, two of the sources said.

US-based industrial firm Roper Technologies was expected to be a potential bidder earlier in the process, but its level of interest is unclear, one of the sources added. French 3D design and engineering specialist Dassault Systemes and Swedish sensor software firm Hexagon are among other logical bidders, as previously reported by Mergermarket.

Evercore and Jefferies are sell-side advisers in the auction.

AutoForm generated EBITDA of EUR 75m in 2021. Earnings are up from around EUR 27m in 2015 when Astorg acquired the business. Previous reports have suggested that AutoForm could fetch a valuation of more than 30x EBITDA.

Discussions about AutoForm have focused on whether further growth can be achieved in the Asia-Pacific region, including in China and South Korea, given the level of execution risk, one of the sources said. However, AutoForm's growth story targets product expansion, as well as growth in other regions, another source added.

The emergence of similar products launched by competitors, such as US-simulation software company Ansys, is another concern for sponsors, one of the sources said. There is also a question of customer expansion, as it already serves most European original equipment manufacturers and whether it can move into adjacent verticals, as previously reported.

Meanwhile, the automotive industry continues to face structural changes from the move to electric vehicles and is known to be cyclical. But AutoForm's platform-independent software – which is used in testing and design phases of manufacturing – so far remains untouched by these developments. AutoForm has also made the switch from software licences to a recurring subscription model.  

Founded in 1995 and located in Wilen near Wollerau in Switzerland, AutoForm is a spinoff from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich.

Permira declined to comment. AutoForm, Astorg and Onex did not respond to requests for comment.

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