Electrolux Leisure Appliances AB

It has been announced that EQT Northern Europe has, via the newco Dometic Appliances AB, successfully completed the acquisition of Elelctrolux Leisure Appliances’ operations in Germany and Slovakia. The acquisition follows EQT Northern Europe’s purchase of the major part of the Leisure Appliances division in July 2001, when EQT was granted a put option to acquire the German and Slovakian operations. These operations have been incorporated into the newco Dometic Appliances AB, which used to be called Erusiel AB, the holding structure established for the initial transaction. Financing for the deal was completed at the time of the original acquisition, although the amount of equity invested by EQT has not been disclosed. The debt financing, arranged and underwritten solely by Fuji Bank of Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group, comprised a SKr 4,565m senior debt package that included approximately Skr 1bn of working capital and acquisition facilities, and mezzanine financing worth SKr 1,025m. The divestment was the result of an auction managed by Lehman Brothers.

Company

The businesses in Siegen, Germany and Filankovo, Slovakia, operate five manufacturing facilities and had external sales of approximately SKr 1.3bn in 2001 and about 1,400 employees. Pro forma, including Germany and Slovakia, Dometic, as the company is to be known, reported sales of approximately SKr 5.7bn in 2001 and employs a total of around 3,600 staff. Dometic is the world leader in absorption refrigerators for recreational vehicles, hotel rooms, and medical applications. The company is also a global leader in air conditioners and awnings for recreational vehicles. Dometic has production facilities in Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Slovakia, South Africa, Canada and the US. In addition, the company has sales and marketing operations in 30 countries and approximately 85 distributors around the world.

People

Working out of the firm’s Stockholm office, Håkan Johansson and Fredrik Åtting coordinated the deal on behalf of EQT and have both joined the company’s board of directors. They were assisted by Nils Forsberg, also from the Stockholm office. The board is headed up by Svend Holdt Nielsen and includes Roland Nilsson, Tommy Rengman, Bengt Engström and CEO Sven Stork.

Advisors

Equity – Vinge, Stockholm, Bo Adrianzon and Fabian Ekelblad (Legal); Ulf Sallnäs and Ulrich Ziche (Corporate finance); PricewaterhouseCoopers, Stockholm, Michel Ericsson (Financial due diligence); Aon Insurance, Stockholm (Insurance due diligence); ERM, Stockholm (Environmental due diligence).

Debt – Norton Rose Acquisition Finance Group, London, Tim Polglase, Tomas Gärdfors and Antti Pesonen (Debt financing structure); Jill Gauntlett and Emma Wiedemanis (Corporate finance); Dominic Studdaford and Judith Watson (Tax); Manheimer Swartling, Stockholm, Thomas Pettersson and Jesper Johansson (Legal).

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