IK exits CID Lines to trade

Francesca Veronesi
10 January 2020

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IK Investment Partners has sold its majority stake in Belgium-based CID Lines, a specialist in livestock biosecurity and hygiene, to US-based Ecolab, a provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies.

A source close to the situation has confirmed to Unquote that the deal valuation of €450-500m reported by Belgian publication De Tijd is roughly correct.

Ecolab, based in St Paul, is a provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies, serving customers in the food service, food processing, hospitality, healthcare, industrial, and oil and gas markets.

IK declined to comment on the transaction.

Previous funding
Gilde Buyout Partners became a majority shareholder of the business in 2010, when it invested via its €600m third buyout fund. At the time of the acquisition, CID was thought to generate €40m in revenues and €12-13m in EBITDA.

IK took over the company in 2015 by acquiring a majority stake via its IK VII fund, which closed on €1.4bn in 2013. The deal was financed with a debt package arranged as a traditional club deal. According to Unquote sister publication Debtwire, a group of banks including Bank of Ireland, Belfius, BNP Paribas, HSBC and ING provided a €93m senior debt package to support the transaction.

Company
Founded in 1988, CID offers a range of cleaning, disinfectant and hygiene solutions for pig, poultry and dairy farms, serving around 300,000 farms worldwide. Headquartered in Ypres, the company's 2019 sales were approximately $113m.

People
Global Food & Beverage – Nick Alfano (executive vice-president, general manager).
CID Lines – Koen Brutsaert (co-founder, CEO).