Equistone sells Oase to Argand

Oscar Geen
31 October 2017

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Equistone Partners Europe has sold Hörstel-based water garden company Oase Group to US private equity firm Argand Partners.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed; however, the enterprise value is thought to be in the region of 9x Oase's €24m projected EBITDA, which would amount to €215m.

Hayfin arranged a loan facility to support the acquisition. Senior leverage was touted in the 4-4.5x range and unitranche up to 5x, following a lender education for eight banks and four debt funds in June 2017, according to unquote" sister publication Debtwire.

The sale ends a six-year holding period for Equistone, during which revenues increased from €102m for 2012 to €150m for 2017. EBITDA has grown from €13.2m to €24m in this time.

Argand fought off competition from ICG and Sun Capital in the second round of the auction, according to the Debtwire report. Sun Capital closed its Germany office in June after losing its managing director.

Previous funding
Motion Equity Partners (then Electra Partners Europe) acquired Oase from its family owners in 2002. The GP financed the buyout solely in equity to meet the vendor's wish for a quick and discreet transaction. It later reduced its equity exposure to €71m with a debt package arranged by Bank of Scotland, Fortis Bank, WGZ Bank and KfW.

Equistone acquired a majority stake from Motion in 2011, drawing equity from Equistone Partners Europe Fund III to support the transaction. The vehicle held a final close on €2.4bn in September 2007 and reported a DPI of 1.63x in March 2017, according to unquote" data.

The GP partially realised its investment in July 2015 through a recapitalisation, adding €15m of senior debt to repay a shareholder loan.

The company made several bolt-on acquisitions under Equistone's ownership, including Eden in Italy in 2013, as well as Florida-based GeoGlobal and UK-based Reef One in 2016.

Company
Hörstel-based Oase was founded in 1949 and is a provider of products and systems for water gardens, fountain technology and lake management. The company projects turnover of €150m for 2017 and currently employs 750 people.

Oase has production sites in Germany, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and China. It operates in two main business areas: water gardens and indoor aquatics for the consumer market; and fountain technology and lake management for the commercial sector.

People
Argand Partners – Heather Faust (partner).
Equistone Partners Europe – Michael Bork (senior partner); Stefan Maser (partner).
Oase Group – Thorsten Muck (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – Scott-Macon (M&A); Winston & Strawn (legal); Greenfort Partnerschaft (legal).
Debt – Latham & Watkins (legal).
Vendor – Baird (M&A); P+P Pöllath + Partners (legal); KPMG (financial due diligence); PwC (commercial due diligence).