3i drops Ambea IPO; reaps 3.4x in SBO

3i has divested its stake in healthcare and care services provider Ambea in a €850m secondary buyout to Triton. The company has been in 3i's portfolio for five years, and 3i was keen to divest.

In fact, unquote" reported in May 2008 that 3i was considering a flotation of Ambea. This time around, 3i ran a dual-track for the company, exploring opportunities for both a trade sale and a listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

"The timing for us to divest was right, and we also saw that there was a willingness to invest, coupled with a scarcity of good quality assets in the market," managing director of 3i's Nordic operations Gustav Bard comments.

Like KKR, which acquired Bridgepoint's Pets at Home which was en route to an IPO, Triton acquired Ambea, cancelling IPO plans. Several other financial buyers were also interested in the healthcare group, and Triton's final bid of €850m is said to be in the range of the IPO price.

So the Ambea exit did not mark the first Nordic private equity-backed IPO of the year. However, there could be others to come, particularly if the IPO environment continues to be stable.

Bard is reluctant to be drawn on future potential listings, but he confirms that investor appetite is there: "There was a lot of interest for Ambea, both because of the company's merits, but also the attributes of the healthcare sector in general."

3i wholly acquired in Ambea, then Carema, in 2005. The following year, the private equity player acquired Finnish-based Mehiläinen, creating the health group Ambea. This particular add-on acquisition was instrumental in developing Carema from a national player in Sweden to a pan-Nordic service provider under the brand name Ambea.

"Without this acquisition, we would still have had a good company, but it would be exclusively Swedish, and probably two thirds of the size," comments Bard.

During 3i's ownership more than 20 bolt-ons have been completed, and the group now employs 9,500 staff across Finland, Sweden and Norway. Sales and EBITDA have grown by 15% and 31% per year respectively, amounting to SEK 7.3bn in turnover with an SEK 624m EBITDA in 2009.

Get the full details on the exit deal here

 

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• Secondary buyout
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