Advent-backed Cobham sells mission systems business for $2.83bn

Dublin- and New York-based trade buyer Eaton acquired CMS for approximately 14x its 2020 EBITDA, excluding tax benefits, according to a statement. The figure also represents 13x the division's estimated 2021 EBITDA.

Advent was reported to be considering the sale of the division in November 2020, according to a report by Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

Advent acquired the company in January 2020 for £4bn, drawing equity from its $17.5bn Advent International GPE IX vehicle, which writes equity tickets of $100m-1bn. As part of its Cobham acquisition, Advent agreed to undertakings that include notifying the UK's Ministry of Defence and Home Office of any plans to sell all or part of the business.

The sale is part of Advent's plan to break up Cobham, following its sale of the company's antennas unit Aero Connectivity to TransDigm for $965m in November 2020.

Company
In addition to its core air-to-air refuelling operations, CMS provides fuel tank inserting, space propulsion and weapons carriage products and services. Cobham is based in Dorset and was founded in 1934.

People
Eaton – Heath Monesmith (president, industrial sector).

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Industrials
• United Kingdom
• Advent International
• Partial sale
• Carve-out