Good morning Eurohubsters, Craig McGlashan here with the Dealflow.
We open today with a deep dive into Tikehau Capital’s recent listing of EuroGroup Laminations, taking a look not just at the deal itself but whether it’s a sign that the IPO market is reopening.
Meanwhile, potentially moving back into private hands is maternity wear company Seraphine. We have an update for you on Mayfair Equity Partners’ bid to buy back the company.
Elsewhere, we have deals from Eurazeo and Ares plus a big retirement at Carlyle.
Binary. I spoke to Roberto Quagliuolo, head of private equity Italy and co-head of Italy at Tikehau Capital, about his firm’s recent IPO of EuroGroup Laminations, an Italian producer of stators and rotors for electric motors, in which Tikehau had a 30 percent stake.
You can check out the whole interview here, which includes the return Tikehau made on its investment at the IPO and figures on EuroGroup’s revenue and EBITDA growth.
But I was also interested in whether this listing was a sign that the IPO market was reopening.
“The reality is that it’s binary,” he told me. “You have a story – energy transition, electrification, clean mobility. Either you are riding one of these well-identified macro trends or the market is closed. Investors don’t feel the need to take risks for stories that are not perceived as a clear pureplay.”
That view chimed with that of others I spoke to for the article, who said that the IPO market was unlikely to return to full strength until central banks were comfortable that they had defeated the high inflation of the last year.
Here’s the link to the whole piece again.
I’d love to get your thoughts on the health of the IPO market and whether you expect it to reopen as an exit route this year. Send them over to me at craig.m@pei.group
Closing in. Sticking with public markets but moving the other way, we have an update on Mayfair Equity Partners’ attempt to take Seraphine, an international maternity wear company headquartered in London, private.
An announcement on the London Stock Exchange this morning said that Mayfair had acceptances of around 30.88 percent of its offer from shareholders, which, when added to the 42.71 percent it already held, takes its stake to 73.6 percent. If Mayfair acquires 90 percent of the shares, it can make a compulsory purchase of the rest under UK rules.
Mayfair offered 30p per share, valuing the company at around £15.3 million ($19.0 million; €17.4 million), in late January. See our coverage at the time for details on the premium over the previous share price.
Mayfair had owned Seraphine before it went public on the LSE Main Market in July 2021 at 295p per share, giving it a valuation of just over £150 million. Mayfair had bought it for £50 million in late 2020.
For more take-private news, check out our most recent coverage on Bain and Triton’s tussle for Finnish construction firm Caverion, Providence Equity bidding for conference firm Hyve Group and Apollo making a play for engineering firm John Wood Group.
Data centres. Eurazeo has invested in Etix Everywhere via its Eurazeo Transition Infrastructure Fund and will partner with the group to support its carbon emission reduction trajectory.
Etix is a French company operating a network of edge data centres in regional locations, providing colocation services to its customers. The firm is based in Nantes.
Eurazeo, with its investment in Etix, will aim to address the challenge of incorporating sustainability considerations into the construction and operation of data centres, according to a release.
Fixed income. Ares Management Corporation will acquire a minority equity stake in BlueCove with the option to take control of the business over a multi-year term.
BlueCove is a London-based institutional scientific fixed income manager. The firm managed $1.8 billion of assets as of 28 February.
Check out our full coverage here.
We’re seeing more and more financial services deals here at PE Hub Europe. For an in-depth look at one of the most recent, take a look at Nina Lindholm’s interview with Permira principals Chris Pell and Daniel Tan and their firm’s purchase of a majority stake in Acuity Knowledge Partners.
Retirement. Peter Clare, chief investment officer of corporate private equity and chairman of the Americas at Carlyle, is retiring from the firm, effective April 30, 2023. He is also stepping down from his role as a member of the Carlyle board of directors, effective immediately.
Sandra Horbach and Brian Bernasek, co-heads of Carlyle’s US buyout and growth platform, will assume the role of co-heads of the Americas to oversee the firm’s private equity business across the region, in addition to their current responsibilities, effective immediately.
Read more about Clare’s time at Carlyle, as well as Horbach and Bernasek’s bios, here.
That’s all from me today – speak to you tomorrow.
Cheers,
Craig
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: 
