IK Investment Partners to acquire Exxelia from LBO France

Mikkel Stern-Peltz
08 September 2014

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

IK Investment Partners has entered into exclusive discussions to buy France-based Exxelia Group from LBO France.

The secondary buyout will be the fifth investment made through the GP's IK VII Fund, a €1.4bn vehicle raised in 2011, following the fund's most recent acquisition, Ramudden, in April 2014.

Completion of the deal is subject to legal and regulatory approval.

LBO Group's exit follows a refinancing of Exxelia in March this year, in which the electrical components manufacturer refinanced €130m of senior and €45m of mezzanine debt.

IK partner Dan Soudry said the GP plans to strengthen Exxelia's position in the US, as well as improve its presence in European and Asian markets.

Previous funding
IK will be the fifth GP to own the company after LBO Group acquired it from Qualium in a quaternary buyout at the end of 2010.

Exxelia had been bought by Axa Private Equity under its previous name Eurofarad in 1998. The GP then sold it to Chequers Capital for €100m in 2003, which eventually handed it off to CDC Capital Investissement in 2007.

In March 2014, LBO France completed a refinancing of €175m of Exxelia's debt, in which the GP netted an €82m dividend.

Company
Exxelia Group is made up of eight companies, the oldest of which dates back to 1921. The group manufactures passive components, such as filters and capacitors, for high-tech applications.

The Paris-based company employs 1,200 people across its subsidiaries, which operate in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US.

Exxelia had revenues of €115m in 2013, having grown from €74m since LBO's acquisition.

People
Dan Soudry is a partner with IK and worked on the deal alongside Rémi Buttiaux, Diki Korniloff and Caroline Le Hen. LBO France partner Jérôme Guez worked on the deal for the vendor. Christophe Malrin is the CEO of Exxelia.

Advisers
Equity – Canaccord Genuity, Nadim Barouki, Gregoire Le Sourd (Corporate finance); AT Kearney, Jérôme Souied, Charles David, Alexandre Rayne (Commercial due diligence); 8 Advisory, Justin Welstead, Mathieu Morisot, Aynard de Chevron Villette (Financial due diligence); White & Case, Vincent Morin, Camille Note, Orion Berg, Richard Burke, Laetitia Ghebali (Legal, financial due diligence); White & Case, Norbert Majerholc, Marcus Schmidbauer (Tax, corporate finance).
Equity – Mayer Brown, Serge Levine, Marie Pouget (Legal).
Company – Canaccord Genuity, Nadim Barouki, Gregoire Le Sourd (Corporate finance).