Permira exits Althea to F2i and DWS

Rachel Lewis
11 May 2022

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Private equity firm Permira has sold Italian technology services provider Althea to F2i and DWS, a consortium of infrastructure investors.

The GP signed the deal last Friday after entering exclusivity in April, as first reported by Unquote's sister publication Mergermarket.

The transaction will see Althea broken up with F2i, Italy's largest infrastructure investor, buying the Italian arm, and DWS, the investment arm of Deutsche Bank, buying the UK assets via its Inframedica portfolio vehicle.

Permira has owned Althea since 2014 and engaged Goldman Sachs on a sell-side mandate in September 2019 that ultimately collapsed over mismatched expectations on valuation, as reported.

The vendor formed Althea investing, via Permira V, in the merger of MESA in Switzerland and Asteral in the UK, followed by the IBSL Group and TBS in Italy. The group manages and services technology like MRI scanners for hospitals.

Althea has revenues of over EUR 450m and sells into over 2,700 healthcare facilities across 18 countries, with 3,000+ employees managing over 1.4 million medical devices.

The transaction valued the business at EUR 1bn, according to a report in the Italian press. However, a source familiar with the situation said that the actual EV was "substantially below" that.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023.

Two of Permira V's unrealised assets are currently in sale processes: UK-based financial planner Tilney Smith & Williamson and German chemicals supplier CABB. Other companies still in the portfolio include British credit management Lowell Group and French campsite operator Vacalians remain unrealised. Fund V closed in June 2014 at EUR 5.3bn.

Permira did not respond to a request for comment.

Advisors

Permira - Rothschild & Co (M&A); EY (commercial), Giliberti and Triscornia e Associati (legal).