IK Investment Partners sells Transnorm to trade

Unquote understands that the company was valued at 13x its forecast 2018 EBITDA of €32.2m, and that the vendor reaped a 6x return on its investment.

The sale ends a four-year holding period for IK, which acquired Transnorm Group from private equity house Equita Management via its €1.4bn IK VII Fund. 

Under IK's ownership, Transnorm pursued a strategy of internationalisation, product innovation and expansion of aftermarket services; it also completed the add-on acquisition with Sovex, which enlarged its product offering. According to a statement, the company doubled its revenues and nearly tripled its operating profit while investing in R&D, product development and production capacity expansion.

Previous funding
Equita acquired an 80% stake in the company from Nord Holding in 2007, via an auction process managed by KPMG. A senior debt and mezzanine package was provided by Investkredit Bank to support the transaction.

Nord Holding had bought the business in 2004 in a management buyout from listed company Swisslog. The deal value was reported to stand at around €25m at the time. Senior debt and a working capital facility was provided by HypoVereinsbank.

Company
Founded in 1957, Transnorm is a provider of automation technology used in parcel, distribution and e-commerce warehouses. The company is headquartered in Harsum, Germany, with additional production sites in Arlington, US, and Bangkok, Thailand. It generated revenues of €100m in 2017 and expects to reach EBITDA of €32.2m from a turnover of €130m in 2018.

People
IK Investment Partners – Anders Petersson (partner); Daniel-Vito Günther (partner).
Transnorm Group – Sidy Diop (managing director).

Advisers
Vendor – Renzenbrink & Partner (legal); Alantra (M&A); Deloitte (financial due diligence); Goetzpartners (commercial due diligence).

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