Ardian preps Imes-icore for sale; sellside pitches ongoing

Patrick Costello , Johannes Koch , Kezia Joseph and Joao Grando
17 February 2023

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Germany’s Imes-icore, a healthcare tech firm backed by Ardian, is expected to come up for sale later this year, five sources familiar with the situation said.

The pan-European sponsor is currently entertaining pitches to award a sellside mandate for the asset, the sources said, one noting that pitch meetings are taking place throughout mid-February.

Private equity firms are already doing prep work on Imes-icore in anticipation of a sale launch later this year, one of the sources said. If launched, a process would likely kick off in 2H23, another source said.

Imes-icore has around EUR 15m-EUR 20m EBITDA, four of the sources said, with one adding that the company's 2023 EBITDA figure is likely closer to EUR 15m.

In 2021, Imes-icore reported EUR 47.2m revenue and EUR 9.5m EBIT, up from around EUR 32.5m revenue in 2020, according to its most recently available financial filings. The company said that to a large extent, the increase in revenue was from sales abroad and that it was able to ramp up production volumes in 2021 as short-time work ended, per the filings.

For 2022, the company forecast a "moderate" increase in sales and said it considered its prospects to be "very positive" for the coming years, partly because its new CORiTEC 150i and one / one+ machine series were very well received by the market and closed a gap in its product portfolio, the same filings state.

Ardian acquired a majority stake in Imes-icore in 2017 for an undisclosed sum from private investor Hugo Isert, with CEO and co-founder Christoph Stark retaining a "significant" minority stake in the firm, according to Mergermarket data. At that time, the company posted around EUR 30m revenue and had around 150 employees.

Founded in 2002 as a spin-off of German machinery firm ISEL Group, Imes-icore develops and produces computerised numerical control (CNC) machining systems and computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) systems for milling, water jet and laser cutting used in dental laboratories, clinics and dental milling centres, according to Ardian's website.

Eiterfeld-based Imes-icore now has around 250 employees and has delivered more than 15,000 machines for manufacturing dental restorations worldwide since its founding, according to its website.

Ardian declined to comment. Imes-icore did not respond to a request for comment.