La Toulousaine (now Stella Group) is a leading French manufacturer of custom-made metallic gates and curtains, roller shutters, aluminium gates and sectional doors.

At the time of acquisition, Stella Group was formed of two companies: La Toulousaine and Profalux. La Toulousaine is a manufacturer of commercial metallic gates and curtains for retail stores and sectional doors and aluminium gates for industrial and residential use. Profalux is a leading manufacturer of aluminium roller shutters. In June 2012, the group acquired a third business, Eveno, a leading supplier of roller shutters in France

VALUE CREATION

During Equistone’s investment period, Stella Group’s strong business model has been demonstrated by its ability to withstand macroeconomic cycles through significant productivity improvements and market share gains. As a result, turnover has increased from €94m in 2010 to a 2015 forecast of €155m and the EV has nearly doubled during Equistone’s investment period.

Working closely with the management team, Equistone has supported Stella Group’s plans for further growth and the development of its product offering with the:

• Purchasing of Profalux’s real estate in June 2011, which expanded production capacity.
• Acquisition of Eveno, in western France in June 2012, which expanded its footprint outside the southeast of France, broadened its product offering and diversified its distribution channels;
• Hiring of a group CFO in October 2012;
• Refinancing of the group’s initial debt package in April 2014;
• Significant investment in the three businesses to develop capacity and improve productivity through best practice sharing.

EXIT

Equistone completed the sale of its investment in the group to ICG.

Aerocan Group is the European leader in the manufacture of aluminium aerosol cans for the personal care and pharmaceutical industries.

Aerocan is uniquely positioned as the only player with both an integrated slug production capacity and manufacturing facilities in Eastern and Western Europe. Furthermore, Aerocan is one of the main suppliers to key customers in the large personal care segment.

EXIT

Equistone completed the sale of Aerocan to Ball Corporation, one of the world leaders in metal packaging, for approximately €221m inclusive of debt and other liabilities. The acquisition of Aerocan by Ball Corporation offers new opportunities for Aerocan, particularly for its customers outside Europe.

Converteam (formerly Alstom Power Conversion) specialises in the supply of systems and equipment that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy, such as drives, controls, motors and generators.

The company recorded sales of over €1bn in 2010.

Converteam operates in four markets: marine & offshore (particularly with electrical propulsion systems for civil and military vessels), metals processing, oil & gas and renewable energy.

Converteam’s main sites are located in France, Germany, UK, USA, Brazil, China and India.

New investors joined the shareholder base in September 2008 resulting in the business being owned by LBO France, the management team and employees, alongside Equistone until September 2011.

EXIT

The group was sold to General Electric for a €2.5bn enterprise value.

Martek Power is one of the world’s leaders in the power conversion industry.

With over 40 years of experience, Martek Power possesses a unique expertise in the design and production of power conversion products for high technological aeronautical, defence, medical, telecom and railway industries.

The ability of Martek Power to adapt to clients’ specific needs has made it the French leader of ‘customised’ products and No. 3 worldwide in ‘standard’ military supplies. Martek Power employs more than 930 employees in France, UK, USA, Mexico, Tunisia and China.

EXIT

Equistone sold its stake in Martek Power to Coopers Industries for €130m.

Fläkt Woods manufactures and distributes heating, air conditioning and air climate solutions for the building industry and until 2013, for infrastructure & industry, when the division was sold to Colfax.

Working closely with the management team, Equistone and Sagard have supported Fläkt Woods plans to explore growth opportunities, which resulted in the acquisition of six build-ups, materialising its strategy of geographic expansion and technological strengthening. Over the investment period, Equistone proactively backed the management team in the industrial reshaping of the group and the company positioning on energy and environmental-friendly system and solution..

VALUE CREATION

In 2007, two air solutions specialists were acquired: Semco in the US and Symor Oy. Caryaire Air Management Systems based in India and Airchal in France were acquired in 2009. Part shares in Finnish-based Iloxair, which specialises in energy recovery Units was purchased in 2012 and, most recently, majority shares in Danish-based ClimateConsult, ventilation and fire safety specialists, were acquired in 2014.

EXIT

Equistone sold its investment in Fläkt Woods to Triton.

Scaff’Holding designs, manufactures, rents out and sets up scaffoldings and propping equipment. It supplies to a wide variety of industries including construction, aerospace, petrochemicals maintenance and special events.

The business operates under two brand names: Entrepose Echafaudages, which specialised in the rental of scaffoldings and operates through 16 branches and Mills, which specialises in the rental of props, formworks and scaffoldings and operates through eight branches.

From 2009-2011, demand suffered due to the economic environment, notably in the UK, Portugal and Spain, where the group wound down its activities.

Over the last two years market conditions have been more favourable in France due to the increasing number of public infrastructure tenders. Market prospects remain good with future plans for new high-speed trains, highways, maintenance and dismantling of nuclear facilities and maintenance of oil and aeronautics facilities on the agenda. Algerian and Brazilian markets are also promising and the group plans to expand its overseas presence further by shipping more materials to these markets.

EXIT

In April 2013, Equistone sold the majority of its shareholding in Scaff’Holding in a tertiary MBO transaction. The management team increased its stake in the business with the backing of two French private equity funds.

Equistone sold its remaining equity stake in two tranches, with one in December 2013 and the final tranche in July 2014.

Kermel is the leading European manufacturer of meta-aramid fibre for protective clothing and industrial applications.

The company targets three sectors that account for more than 90% of group sales: fire services, military & public order and industrials.

Kermel® Tech is used in a large variety of industrial applications where end users or intermediaries require long-lasting heat resistant materials. Here, the company concentrates on two main niche areas: hot gas filtration, which removes dust from smoke, and engine insulating papers, which prevent overheating.

VALUE CREATION

During the investment period, Kermel significantly increased its production capacity and the group successfully diversified into new segments and geographies.

EXIT

Equistone sold its investment in Kermel to Qualium Investissement.

APEM is one of the global leading manufacturers of switches, keyboards, joysticks or LED indicators.

APEM products have various applications in the transport, defence, industrial automation, instrumentation, medical, telecommunication and aerospace industries.

The company has activities in France, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, in the US, in China, and Tunisia and generated 67% of its sales outside of France

VALUE CREATION

Equistone worked alongside the management team to develop the business with initiatives such as:

• Backing and funding the acquisition of CH Products in 2008, strengthening the existing industrial and commercial footprint of the group in the US and balancing the activity between Europe, the US and Asia;
• Adding new competencies to support APEM in its growth strategy, which focused on the acquisition of key accounts over the world and as a consequence the progressive consolidation of the group’s many subsidiaries in order to facilitate the provision to its large global accounts of a consistent quality of service;
• Supporting an ambitious improvement program regarding the global logistics and industrial organisation.

EXIT

Equistone sold APEM to its management, backed by Intermediate Capital Group, which has been a minority shareholder in APEM since 2006 and the group’s lead mezzanine provider in the previous management buyout.

Fives (formerly Fives-Lille) is a 100-year-old industrial engineering group which designs and produces manufacturing process equipment. The group primarily operates in the metal, automotive, energy and cement industries, where it is a market leader.

In 2004, the Group was acquired in a secondary MBO led by Equistone with a strategy to expand both through internal and external growth.

Strong organic growth, combined with the acquisition of Landis Grinding Systems, a USA based machine tool business specialising in grinding machines for the automotive industry, enabled group revenue to grow from €700m to €1.1bn between 2003 and 2006.

In July 2006, Charterhouse Capital Partners invested in Fives-Lille. On this occasion, several minority shareholders sold their stake in Fives-Lille and Equistone realised part of its 2004 investment, while remaining a significant shareholder of the group.

VALUE CREATION

Between 2006 and 2012, group revenue grew to c. €1.5bn thanks to internal growth and to five add-on acquisitions, two of which, Namco in July 2008 and Bronx in December 2010, being significant.

EXIT

The financial shareholders sold their stake in Fives to Axa Private Equity, in a deal where the group management reinvested significantly.