Ardian sells Gantner to Alantra-backed Salto

Alessia Argentieri
16 October 2020

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Ardian has sold Austria-based Gantner to Salto Systems, a Spanish electronic locking company backed by Alantra Private Equity.

The deal was valued at around €150m, based on EBITDA of around €10-12m, Unquote understands.

The acquisition was financed with a €125m capital increase deployed by Alantra, alongside Sofina, Peninsula Capital and Florac. In addition to the equity, a debt package was also provided by a pool of banks.

Financial investors will hold a combined 30% stake in Salto, while the remainder will be retained by the company's founders and managers (60%) and some private investors (10%).

As part of the deal, Alantra divested its current position in Salto and reinvested in the company via its €450m latest fund Alantra PEF III.

The sale of Gantner ends a four-year holding period for Ardian, which acquired the company in an MBO via its €500m fund Ardian Expansion III. Debt to support the deal was provided by NordLB.

Under Ardian's ownership, the company's product portfolio was expanded to include ticketing and management software for leisure facilities with the acquisition of Syx Automations.

This was followed by the acquisition of Contidata in June 2020, which enlarged Gantner's offering with the addition of cashless payment systems for company cafeterias.

The company was also able to increase its market share, particularly in the US, the UK and the Benelux region. As a result, Gantner doubled its revenues from €36m in 2015 to around €80m in 2019, and increased the number of its employees from 200 to 450.

Ardian had mandated GCA Altium – which advised the company on its original MBO – to structure the sale of Gantner in January 2020 and launched an auction in April. At the time, the process was marketed based on EBITDA of €17m, according to Unquote's sister publication Mergermarket.

The acquisition of Gantner by Salto will create a new group with a combined workforce of 1,200 employees in 40 countries, including more than 230 dedicated to R&D, and a turnover of €260m.

Alantra, at the time known as N+1, acquired a 22% stake in Salto in 2013.

In October 2018, the GP transferred the remaining portfolio of its Alantra Private Equity Fund II, which included Salto, to a new secondary fund. The transaction was led by Partners Group, a global private markets investment manager acting on behalf of its clients, which structured a liquidity solution for exiting investors in Alantra PEF II.

The assets continued to be managed by the Alantra team. The transaction provided a liquidity solution with a 2x return for the exiting investors.

Company
Founded in 1982 and based in Nueziders, Austria, Gantner is a manufacturer of systems that enable automatic and contactless identification, based on radio frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) technology.

Established in 1999 and headquartered in Oiartzun, in the Basque Country, Salto manufactures access control products with a particular focus on electronic locks. The company has developed a range of virtual network security systems, enabling users on and offline control.

Typical customers include airports, hospitals, banks, universities and hotels, including Princeton University, University of Oxford, Hilton, Meliá Hotels and Resorts, Cleveland Clinic, Assemblée Nationale, T-Mobile, IWG Group, BBVA and Migros.

The company employs 750 staff in offices based across 32 countries.

People
Alantra Private Equity – Gonzalo de Rivera (CEO of Private Equity division).
Ardian – Dirk Wittneben (managing director).
Gantner – Elmar Hartmann (CEO).
Salto – Javier Roquero (co-founder, CEO).