Astorg buys Microconnections from Bain's FCI

Greg Gille
29 September 2011

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Astorg Partners has acquired Microconnections from French connectors manufacturer FCI, a portfolio company of Bain Capital.

Although Microconnections' enterprise value was not disclosed, the deal is understood to be valued in the region of €600m. The investment was made via Astorg's fifth fund, which closed on €1.05bn in April – its predecessor made its last investment with the Saverglass buyout in May.

Astorg reportedly pipped its rival AXA Private Equity to the post in the final stages of the auction, which was run by Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, in late August.

The new owner chose to back the spin-off based on Microconnections' market position, its innovation capabilities and its industrial know-how. The business will notably look to expand internationally in the near future.

Astorg will also propose an employee shareholding scheme - a practice the GP has developed in several other portfolio companies.

Debt
Goldman Sachs, Nomura and RBC arranged a €320m debt package to support the acquisition.

Previous funding
Bain Capital acquired FCI – then Areva's connectors subsidiary – for €1.067bn in 2005. A €695m debt package was underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

Company
Versailles-based FCI manufactures connectors for various markets such as consumer and industrial electronics, automotive, telecommunication infrastructures . It posted a €1.28bn turnover in 2010.

The group comprises three divisions: microconnections, electronics, and motorised vehicles. The microconnections unit manufactures flexible printed circuits for smart card applications

The division makes the smallest contribution to the group's turnover with revenues of €202m last year. Microconnections employs 670 staff.

People
Christian Couturier, Lorenzo Zamboni, Judith Charpentier and Thomas Carbonel worked on the deal for Astorg. Jérôme Bertrand and Benjamin Kunstler represented Bain Capital. Christophe Duverne is CEO of Microconnections.

Advisers
Equity – Nomura, Emmanuel Regniez, Igor de Limur (M&A); SJ Berwin, Christophe Digoy, Maxime Dequesne, Thomas Dupont, David Diamant (Legal); Fanny Combourieu, Stéphane Letranchant (Tax); McKinsey, Eric Hazan, Pierre Tardif, Vincent Pobelle (Commercial due diligence); KPMG, Axel Rebaudieres, Emmanuel Ducrocq (Financial & IT due diligence); Landwell, Bernard Borrely, Souad El Halfi, Nicolas Granier, Aurélie Cluzel (Legal, labour due diligence); SarrauThomasCouderc, Denis Fontaine-Besset, Géraldine Pechiné (Tax); URS, Julie de Valence, Chinchin Lim (Environmental due diligence); Gras Savoye, Elisabeth Rossoux (Insurance due diligence).
Vendors – Goldman Sachs, Robert Falzon, Céline Mechain (M&A); Citi, Ali Tabibian, Cedric Leoty (M&A); Latham & Watkins, Thomas Forschbach, Denis Criton (Legal); PricewaterhouseCoopers, Marc Ghiliotti, Philip Dykstra, Jean-Marie Nguyen-Dai (Financial due diligence); Bain & Cie, François Montaville (Commercial due diligence); Arthur D Little, Franck Herbaux (Commercial due diligence); Landwell, Alain Chedal (Tax); Marsh, Jean-Marie Dargaignaratz (Insurance due diligence); HRP Associates, Scot Kuhn (Environmental due diligence).
Debt – Ashurst, Laurent Mabilat, Michaël Lancaster, Pierre Roux (Legal).