Good morning Eurohubsters, Craig McGlashan here with the Dealflow.
I hope you had a good weekend. I spent my Saturday watching Scotland score one of the all-time great Six Nations tries in a victory over England. That’s fitting with some of today’s coverage, as we look at private equity interest in sport (although football rather than rugby) and the possible sale of a stake in a Scotch whisky company.
Before that though, we take a deep dive into Tikehau Capital’s recent aerospace investment and a look into KKR’s rumoured bid for the fixed-line network of Telecom Italia. We also have deals by CVC, Ara Partners and Dominus Capital.
Taking off. Tikehau Capital will utilise secular trends in the aerospace industry to boost the consolidation plans for its recent acquisition of Formecal – a manufacturer of high-precision machining for the aerospace industry – Tikehau executive director Miguel Cavero, and Carmen Alonso, CEO for Iberia and the UK, told PE Hub Europe’s Nina Lindholm.
In early January, Tikehau acquired 100 percent of Madrid-based Formecal from Grupo Amper, via its Aerofondo fund. Formecal, a company specialising in hot-stamping, high-precision machining and the assembling of complex parts for aerostructures, will become part of a consolidation and growth project alongside Madrid-based Acatec, a high-precision machining company acquired by Aerofondo in October.
Tikehau strongly believes in the travel industry and the secular trends pushing it towards its pre-covid heights. “We believe globalisation, and the fact that the growing middle class in Asia is going to demand flights, are some of those long-lasting trends,” said Cavero.
Check out the full interview here, including on how Tikehau believes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is boosting the aerospace sector and the firm’s wider plans for Formecal and Acatec.
Calling in. KKR’s rumoured upcoming bid for the fixed-line network of Telecom Italia (TIM) is the “best scenario” for TIM as it is effective, straightforward and has no antitrust issues, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Last week, we noted several reports that said KKR was close to presenting a non-binding offer for the grid.
KKR declined to comment. But the person said that a KKR deal would offer stability and would fully fund TIM’s debt. KKR also has experience in Italian telecoms, the person noted, having spent €1.8 billion for a 37.5 percent stake in TIM’s grid unit FiberCop in 2020.
Other potential bidders for the grid include the Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and Australian investment firm Macquarie Asset Management.
We also wrote last week that the Italian government had expressed a preference for the network to become publicly owned. But according to the source, “KKR has spoken to all government authorities” and that it’s not completely correct to say there is opposition from the government.
Passing on. CVC Capital Partners has agreed to take a majority stake in Scan Global Logistics (SGL), a Danish provider of logistics and freight forwarding services, from an investor group led by AEA Investors Small Business Private Equity.
SGL has revenues of more than $3 billion and operates in 45 countries. Its average annual revenue growth has been 33 percent since 2017, during which time it has made more than 30 acquisitions, according to a statement.
AEA and management will co-invest beside CVC.
Energy-as-a-Service. Ara Partners has acquired a majority stake in Wattstor, a provider of automated carbon reduction and electricity cost-saving technology for small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-market industrial and commercial end users, writes PE Hub Europe’s Irien Joseph.
With its headquarters in London, Wattstor has offices in the UK, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Poland.
The firm intends to use the capital to widen its European footprint, launch its Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) finance offering, boost R&D, and expand its team by over 50 percent in the next year, according to a release.
Read more about the deal here.
Education. Uptime Institute, backed by Dominus Capital, has completed the acquisition of Academia Group and its global subsidiaries, including CNet Training.
Based in Bury Saint Edmunds in England, CNet Training is a technical education company. The firm designs and delivers professional network and data centre infrastructure training programmes.
The merger of Uptime Institute and CNet Training will address the increasing training needs of all existing and future data centre employees, according to a release.
Check out more on the deal here.
Footing an offer. US investment firm Sixth Street is mulling a bid for part of the media and commercial rights to the Bundesliga, Germany’s football league, according to a report in the Financial Times.
The minority stake could be valued at up to €18 billion, according to the report.
Sixth Street is no stranger to such deals, having already bought stakes in the TV rights of Spanish football giant Barcelona. Read more about that as well as other private equity interest in European football in our round-up from last summer.
Drink up. Hillhouse Capital is looking into selling its share in Scotch whisky producer Loch Lomond Group, according to a people familiar with the matter spoken to by Bloomberg.
Private equity firms and other whisky companies are among the potential suitors, according to the report.
At the top. And finally, Carlyle Group has picked former Goldman Sachs executive Harvey Schwartz to be its next chief executive, following the resignation of Kewsong Lee back in August.
Elsewhere, the Eurazeo supervisory board on Monday announced the nomination of a new executive board, comprising two chairmen, Christophe Bavière and William Kadouch-Chassaing, along with Sophie Flak and Olivier Millet.
That’s it from me – I’ll be back with you again tomorrow.
Cheers,
Craig
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