Inflexion buys Detectortesters

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in April 2021 that Detectortesters was up for sale, advised by Investec. The company was expected to be marketed based on EBITDA of GBP 9m. Sources told Mergermarket that the process was expected to attract significant interest from mid-market sponsors.

Inflexion said in a statement that it intends to support the company with the development of its products and sales channels, as well as its international growth.

The deal sees Detectortesters simultaneously acquire US distribution partner Systems Distributors, which is expected to act as a platform for its growth in the US.

The deal is Inflexion's 11th of 2021 and the GP has now deployed GBP 1bn this year. The firm is investing in Detectortesters via Inflexion Buyout V, which held a final close in May 2018 on GBP 1.25bn. The fund generally invests GBP 10m-200m per deal, according to Unquote Data.

Inflexion sold its minority stake in Medivet to CVC in a GBP 1bn deal earlier this month for 3x money, marking the GP's sixth exit of 2021, as reported.

The non-cyclical nature of fire protection companies and the regulations governing them have meant that they have attracted consistent private equity interest. Recent fire protection investments include Waterland's acquisition of Ireland-based Writech in August 2021, while Rockpool backed UK-based data centre fire protection safety systems business EA-RS in February 2021. Elsewhere in Europe, MML Capital acquired a majority stake in France-based Groupe GDI from Ciclad in May 2021, while Deutsche Beteiligungs AG acquired Germany-based Multimon in August 2020.

Ergon Capital announced the formation of a EUR 270m special-purpose vehicle for Germany-based fire protection systems business SVT, as reported in March 2021. The GP acquired the business in 2017 via its 2010-vintage third fund.

Company
Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Hatfield, Detectortesters designs and manufactures equipment to test smoke, heat and carbon monoxide fire detectors.

The company generated operating profit of GBP 7.6m and revenues of GBP 21.4m in the 2020 financial year, versus operating profit of GBP 6m and revenues of GBP 19.2m in the 2019 financial year, according to its latest publicly available accounts. According to a statement, the company sells its products in more than 130 countries and generates 80% of its revenues outside the UK.

People
Inflexion – Chris Wright, Richard Booth (partners); Alice Lawson (assistant director); Monica Aggarwal (investment executive).
Detectortesters – Robert Campbell (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Lincoln International (corporate finance); Eversheds Sutherland (legal); PwC (financial due diligence).
Vendor – Investec (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• Industrials
• United Kingdom
• Inflexion Private Equity