CVC reacquires Ahlsell in SEK 31bn take-private deal

CVC originally acquired the business in 2012 and listed it in 2016. It announced a cash offer of SEK 55 per share for the business on 11 December, valuing the shares not already directly or indirectly owned by CVC at SEK 17.97bn.

It has now received the tender of 97.9% of the share capital and has initiated the compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares. The last day of trading on Nasdaq Stockholm will be 6 March.

The GP will draw equity from CVC Capital Partners VII and has arranged financing from Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.

Ahlsell has secured a SEK 16.3bn first lien term loan B and a SEK 3.916bn second lien term loan as well as a SEK 2.25bn revolver, according to Moody's.

An additional SEK 11.5bn of equity and shareholder loans will be used to fund the acquisition.

Previous funding
Nordic Capital acquired Ahlsell in 1999 as part of the carve-out of four subsidiaries of Swedish industrial conglomerate Trelleborg in what was considered to be the largest ever Swedish private equity transaction at the time.

Cinven and Goldman Sachs bought the business from Nordic Capital in 2006 and then sold it to CVC for the first time in 2012 for an enterprise value of around €1.8bn.

Company
Founded in 1877, Ahlsell is a distributor of plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning supplies, as well as tools. The company generated EBITDA of SEK 2.7bn from sales of SEK 31bn in 2018 and employs 5,724 people.

People
CVC Capital Partners – Søren Vestergaard-Poulsen (managing partner).

Advisers
Equity – Goldman Sachs International (corporate finance); Carnegie Investment Bank (corporate finance); Roschier (legal); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal); Clifford Chance (legal).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Nordics
• Industrials
• CVC Capital Partners
• Sweden
• Take Private