Barclays PE and LBO France exit Converteam in $3.2bn trade sale

The deal will see both PE houses exit in full, with management retaining a 10% stake in the business. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2011.

General Electrics will then proceed to buy the remaining shares from management over a 2-5 year period for an estimated €480m.

Barclays PE purchased the company, formerly called Alstom Power Conversion, from Alstom in November 2005 in a €150m MBO. State-owned Alstom had been seeking to divest the company for five years since it was losing around €20m a year. The private equity owner then proceeded to implement a successful turnaround strategy.

It then staged a partial exit of Converteam in 2008. In a deal valued at around €1.9bn, LBO France took a third of the company alongside management, who secured another third by reinvesting most of its proceeds. Barclays PE reinvested through Barclays Private Equity European Fund III in order to retain the remaining third of the equity.

Massy-based Converteam operates in more than 80 countries across six core sectors: offshore and onshore oil and gas, power generation, wind and solar renewables, industrial, marine and services. The company posted a $1.5bn turnover and $239m EBITDA for 2010. It currently employs 5,300 staff.

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• Topics
• France
• Industrials
• Exits
• France
• Barclays Private Equity
• LBO France
• Trade sale