Agilitas sells Recover Nordic to EQT

Alessia Argentieri
10 December 2019

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Agilitas Private Equity has sold Norway-based property remediation specialist Recover Nordic to EQT Partners.

The transaction gives the company an EV of around NOK 3bn, according to a market source. This is approximately 6.5x the company's 2013 EV, when Agilitas acquired it.

The sale resulted in a 4.5x gross return (in NOK) for Agilitas, according to a source close to the situation.

EQT deployed capital from its EQT VIII fund, which hit its €10.75bn hard-cap in a final close held in February 2018. Following this investment, the vehicle will be 65-70% deployed.

EQT intends to support Recover Nordic with further investments in digitalisation, as well as pursuing a continued M&A strategy.

Agilitas backed the management buyout of Recover Nordic, at the time known as ISS Damage Control, from EQT-backed ISS Group in June 2013. Previously, EQT and GS Capital Partners had taken ISS off the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in March 2005.

Under Agilitas's ownership, Recover Nordic quadrupled its profit, doubled its staff, broadened its portfolio of services and invested in IT, sales and marketing to target new customer segments.

With the GP's support, the company recorded an average organic growth of 9% per year and deployed a selective buy-and-build strategy by completing 17 add-ons since 2013, expanding geographically into Sweden and Finland, as well as in new segments such as the environmental services sector.

Company
Established in 1983 as Copenhagen-based ISS Damage Control, Recover Nordic provides emergency property remediation services to insurance companies and municipalities, as well as industrial and commercial clients.

The company offers emergency response to help mitigate the impact of water and fire damage, prevent and reduce the costs associated with extreme weather conditions, and make cities safer by maintaining mission-critical infrastructure.

Recover Nordic is headquartered in Oslo, with 92 branches across the Nordic region, and employs 2,100 staff. It generated revenues of NOK 2.5bn in 2018 and expects to reach NOK 3bn in 2019.

People
Agilitas – Martin Calderbank (managing partner); Tor Midsem (partner).
EQT Partners – Magnus Tornling (partner).
Recover Nordic – Bjørn Herlofsen (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – William Blair (corporate finance); Schjødt (legal); Ashurst (legal); PwC (financial due diligence); CIL Management Consultants (commercial due diligence).