Abac sells Isolana to Blackstone's BME

Alessia Argentieri
15 April 2021

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Abac Capital has sold Grupo Building Materials Venture (BMV), known as Isolana, to Blackstone-backed Building Materials Europe (BME).

The current management team, led by CEO Josep Suriñach, will continue to lead the business following the acquisition.

The sale ends a two-year holding period for Abac, which acquired a stake in Isolana via its €320m fund Abac Solutions I. The vehicle targets Spanish mid-market companies with an enterprise value in excess of €30m and deploys equity tickets of €20-50m.

BME is controlled by Blackstone, which acquired the company in July 2019. The GP carved out CRH Europe Distribution, the European distribution division of Ireland-based building materials company CRH, in a deal valuing the business at an enterprise value of €1.64bn.

The transaction comprised the listed group's European builders merchant business, including its sanitary heating and plumbing division. The business was rebranded as BME in February 2020.

BME is headquartered in Schiphol, the Netherlands. It specialises in providing building materials for professional builders, heating and plumbing installers and consumers through a large network of outlets. Its distribution platform operates across the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and France. BME also holds a 50% share in Maxmat, a DIY company based in Portugal.

BME employs 9,000 staff across 565 locations in six countries. It generated EBITDA of €256m from revenues of €3.8bn in 2019 and turnover of €3.9bn in 2020.

Company
Established in 1939 and based in Alcobendas, BMV specialises in supplying and distributing building materials, including flooring, fittings, tiles, paint, and acoustic and thermal insulation materials.

The business sells its products under the Isolana and La Especialista brands.

Employing 375 staff, the company operates 36 distribution centres across Spain and generates annual revenues of around €110m.

People
Abac Capital – Oriol Pinya, Borja Martínez de la Rosa, Javier Rigau (founding partners).
Building Materials Europe – Remco Teulings (group CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Rothschild (M&A); Baker McKenzie (legal); Deloitte (financial due diligence); Attalea (ESG due diligence).
Acquirer – Clifford Chance (legal); PwC (financial due diligence).