Argos sells BMF to Rantum, Cedarlake

The Bartholet family will retain a minority stake and chairman Roland Bartholet will remain operationally involved.

The deal is a divestment for Argos's €400m Euroknights VI fund, which held a final close in December 2010 and was 82% invested in July 2016, according to unquote" data.

The new owners will support the strategic development of the company by expanding to China and other Asian regions.

Cedarlake is a Chinese investment firm led by former Morgan Stanley CEO Yi Bao. Its joint venture with Rantum is a €300m private equity fund that aims to invest in companies in the DACH region and expand them to China.

Previous funding
Argos acquired BMF in an all-equity transaction in October 2011.

Company
BMF was founded in 1962 by Anton Bartholet and is headquartered in Flums, Switzerland. It produces aerial cableway systems, aerial passenger transport systems and amusement park facilities. It currently employs 320 people and generated a €100m turnover in 2015, the last year for which figures are available.

People
Argos Soditic – Guy Semmens (partner); Frank Hermann (partner); Cédric Perlet (investment manager).
BMF Group – Roland Bartholet (chairman).

Advisers
Acquirer – PwC, Jürg Niederbacher, Nico Psarras, Celine Jundt, Patrick Amstutz (financial due diligence, tax); Androschin, Norbert Rauh (commercial due diligence); Vischer, Robert Bernet, Petre Kühn (legal).
Vendor – Alantra, Martin Menzi, Ralf Herrmann (M&A); Baker & McKenzie, Martin Anderson, Jingjin Guo (legal).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• DACH
• Industrials
• Exits
• Switzerland
• Argos Wityu
• Secondary buyout