Alkegen acquires controlling ownership in leading Chinese specialty materials platform

BUFFALO, N.Y. and SANTA MONICA, C.A. – June 28, 2022 – Alkegen, one of the largest specialty materials platforms in the world that provides high performance materials used in advanced applications such as filtration media, battery technologies, high temperature insulation and fire protection, announced today that it has successfully completed a tender offering resulting in Alkegen obtaining a controlling ownership interest in Luyang Energy-Saving Materials Co. Ltd. (“Luyang” or the “Company”), a Shenzhen A-share listed platform headquartered in Yuquan, Shandong province, China.

Luyang produces energy-saving materials in the fields of ceramic fibers, soluble fibers, alumina fibers, and other high temperature insulating materials, and has been partnered with Alkegen since 2015.

“From the very start of our partnership with Luyang seven years ago, we have been continuously impressed by the Company’s management team and their ability to deliver on financial and commercial performance targets” said John Dandolph, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alkegen. “With this increased investment, we plan to leverage Luyang as our platform in Asia to extend and cross-sell many of Alkegen’s other products and technologies that are core to the strategic direction of our global economy. These include systems that are defining our collective future such as filtration media, battery technologies, electric vehicle products, and specialty insulation materials. We are excited to continue investing in Luyang and deploying the Company’s resources to help our customers live greener, breathe easier, and go further than ever before.”

“This transaction marks another milestone in Alkegen’s journey toward becoming the global leader in advanced materials focused on lowering energy usage, reducing emissions and pioneering innovative solutions for the future of attractive high growth industries such as lithium-ion batteries and advanced filtration,” said José E. Feliciano, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Colin Leonard, Partner and Managing Director, at Clearlake.

“We couldn’t be more excited to sponsor John and the Alkegen team in this complex, transformative transaction that we believe will create meaningful value for customers and stakeholders globally, and is a great example of Clearlake’s O.P.S.^® value creation playbook in action,” added Nate Mejías, Principal at Clearlake.

About Alkegen

Alkegen creates high performance specialty materials used in advanced applications including electric vehicles, energy storage, filtration, fire protection and high temperature insulation, among many others. Alkegen’s products are designed with the ultimate goal of saving energy, reducing pollution, and improving safety for people, buildings and equipment by delivering on our mission of helping the world breathe easier, live greener and go further than ever before. Alkegen has 75 manufacturing facilities operating in 12 countries with 9,000+ employees globally. More information is available at www.alkegen.com.

About Clearlake

Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is an investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit, and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.^® The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has over $72 billion of assets under management, and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 400 investments. The firm is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA with affiliates in Dallas, TX, London, UK and Dublin, Ireland. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @Clearlake.

Media Contacts:

Kristen Weiss

Alkegen

kweiss@alkegen.com

352.424.3169

Jennifer Hurson

Clearlake

jhurson@lambert.com

845.507.0571

Ratos has signed an agreement to acquire 70% of the consulting company Knightec, thereby entering into a partnership with co-founder and CEO Dimitris Gioulekas. Over the past 12 months, Knightec had sales of SEK 941m, with adjusted EBITA of SEK 140m. The cash-free, debt-free purchase price for 100% of the company (enterprise value) amounts to SEK 1,625m, corresponding to a multiple of 11.6 (EV/EBITA).

Knightec was founded in 2003 and has experienced strong growth ever since, mainly generated organically but also through strategic acquisitions. The company stands out thanks to its rapid rate of change and industry-leading profitability. Through its unique customer offerings and strong community involvement, Knightec has established a strong market position in technology, design and digitalisation of products and services.

“I am impressed by Knightec’s development in recent years, and Ratos is proud to have been entrusted to enter into a partnership with CEO and co-founder Dimitris Gioulekas and thereby contribute to the company’s continued growth. Knightec currently holds a strong position in the market and is an excellent start to our focus on this sector, which will be an important area for Ratos going forward. Through this acquisition, we will gain exposure to the growing consultancy industry, where we already have solid experience,” says Jonas Wiström, President and CEO, Ratos.

“Knightec will remain a driving force in the digital transformation towards sustainable products and services. Our ability to establish partnerships with key customers and partners has been crucial to our success. This partnership with Ratos will create excellent opportunities to continue investing in new areas in order to strengthen our market position and continue to deliver industry-leading growth and profitability,” says Dimitris Gioulekas, co-founder and CEO, Knightec.

With over 800 employees across Sweden, Knightec specialises in advanced projects that straddle technology, design and digitalisation. Its customers include large corporations with a leading position in various sectors, such as automotive, pharmaceutical, medical technology, finance, telecom, media and security.

Financing and impact on Ratos
The acquisition was financed with Ratos’s own funds and bank financing. For the Ratos Group, the acquisition corresponds to a pro forma increase in sales of just over 4% and an increase of 7% in adjusted EBITA for LTM May 2022. The Ratos Group’s leverage in April 2022 amounted to 0.8x EBITDA and will increase pro forma to 1.4x EBITDA. The CEO and other key employees of Knightec will make a reinvestment in conjunction with the transaction, with their holding amounting to approximately 30% of the shares in the company. After a certain period of time and at the earliest in full after five years, both these key employees and Ratos have a customary right to demand that Ratos acquire the shares at market value.

The acquisition of Knightec is conditional on customary competition clearance.

Press briefing
Representatives of the media are welcome to a press briefing at 09.45 a.m. CEST at Ratos’s office, Sturegatan 10 in Stockholm. Participants will be Jonas Wiström, President and CEO at Ratos and Dimitris Gioulekas, CEO at Knightec. It is also possible to participate digitally via Teams. Mandatory registration, contact VP communication Josefine Uppling, +46 76 114 54 21 or e-mail josefine.uppling@ratos.com.

For further information and media contact:
Jonas Wiström, President and CEO, Ratos, +46 76 114 54 21
Dimitris Gioulekas, CEO, Knightec, +46 70 569 96 88
Josefine Uppling, VP Communication, Ratos, +46 76 114 54 21

This is information that Ratos AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 07:00 a.m. CEST on 16 June 2022.

About Ratos
Ratos is a business group consisting of 14 companies divided into three business areas: Construction & Services, Consumer and Industry. In total 2021, the companies have approximately SEK 25 billion in net sales. Our business concept is to own and develop companies that are or can become market leaders. We have a distinct corporate culture and strategy – everything we do is based on our core values: Simplicity, Speed in execution and It’s All About People. We enable independent companies to excel by being part of something larger. People, leadership, culture and values are key focus areas.

Topic: Investment

Gimv acquires an interest of approximately 30% in Picot, which was born out of the French market leader Dirickx and is expanding in France and other regions in Europe. With Gimv joining alongside the current shareholders and management, the strategy of internal growth and acquisitions will be continued with a view to building market leadership in Europe.

Picot (Congrier – Fr, www.dirickx.fr) produces fencing and gates, distributes its products through various channels to the private and corporate markets, and is also active in the installation of fencing solutions. In the French market, Picot is the market leader and has several production units; internationally, the group has branches mainly in Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and Italy. At the end of 2021, Picot had a turnover of EUR 212m and employed 926 people.

The renewed strategy around French Dirickx was set in motion in 2017 with the acquisition of the company by Robur Capital together with co-investor Telesco. The company has now doubled in size by broadening its product range, tapping new geographical markets and making a whole series of selective acquisitions. With the entry of Gimv, Picot wishes to continue and strengthen this strategy in France and in several European countries.

Wim Deblauwe, CEO of Picot, says: “Since 2017 Picot group has grown from a strong player mainly in France to a European position, through a sophisticated strategy of product innovation, customer focus and targeted acquisitions. We are ready to push through to the position of European market leader and are extremely pleased to find a partner in Gimv who endorses our industrial vision and can help us with the further expansion of Picot.”

Eric de La Vigne, Principal Smart Industries, comments: “Picot is a model of industrial dynamism that we are thrilled to accompany. As a minority investor, we are perfectly in line with the path mapped out by the existing shareholders and are strengthening the foundation with them and the management in particular.”

Tom Van de Voorde, Managing Partner of Smart Industries team, added: “The industrial and technical knowledge, together with the customer focus of the entire company, drives the Picot group forward and shows that industrial companies with the right vision have a bright future. In addition, the will to continue the roll-up in the sector, supported by a stronger capital base, makes the growth potential of this investment very attractive.”

This new investment becomes part of Gimv’s Smart Industries platform, aimed at companies providing B2B products and services, based on value creation through engineering and technology.

Read the full document

English – French – Dutch

Nordstjernan has made a commitment to invest in the industrial company engcon. engcon is the world’s leading manufacturer of tiltrotators with a global market share of approximately 45 percent. The company was founded in 1990 with the ambition to change the world of digging through product innovation and focus on end-users. engcon develops innovative value-creating and sustainable solutions that contribute to increased resource efficiency, safety and profitability.

During the 12-month period ended March 31, 2022, engcon’s revenues amounted to SEK 1,571 million and adjusted operating profit to SEK 351 million, corresponding to an adjusted operating margin of 22.3 percent.

Nordstjernan’s investment amounts to approximately SEK 350 million, corresponding to 5 percent of the company’s shares, and will be carried out in connection with the listing of engcon on Nasdaq Stockholm.

“I am excited that Nordstjernan, as a long-term actor, has chosen to invest in engcon in connection with the listing and look forward to continue to develop the company with their support,” says Stig Engström, founder and main owner of engcon.

“Nordstjernan have been following engcon for a long time and are now very pleased to invest in the company in connection with its listing. Within our Industry sector, Nordstjernan’s strategy is to invest in well-managed industrial companies with long-term global growth potential. We can see that engcon fits in very well with this and look forward to supporting the company over the long term,” says Nordstjernan’s CEO Peter Hofvenstam.

Peter Hofvenstam
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB

Questions will be answered by:

Peter Hofvenstam, CEO, Nordstjernan
E-mail: peter.hofvenstam@nordstjernan.se

Stefan Stern, Head of Communications, Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 70 636 74 17
E-mail: stefan.stern@nordstjernan.se

Nordstjernan is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.

The Finnish company Aidian develops, manufactures and sells instruments and tests that are used in such fields as primary care to provide quick and accurate test results. Aidian’s range of tests addresses several global health problems, such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), diabetes and colorectal cancer. Aidian has tests that are intended to reduce unnecessary prescriptions of antibiotics, which is a driver behind the growing threat from AMR and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
“Finnish company Aidian has built up a leading, global position in point-of-care diagnostics. The company’s instruments and tests are a key part of meeting global health-related challenges. Together with the majority shareholder Nordstjernan we want to develop the company further, with the aim of continuing to build up a leading player in point-of-care diagnostics”, says Morten Borge, CEO of Ferd.
Earlier this year, the Swedish family-controlled investment company Nordstjernan announced that it had acquired 100 percent of the shares in Aidian. Ferd is now purchasing 33 percent of the shares, thus becoming a part-owner of Aidian.
“We are very pleased to have Ferd as a partner in Aidian’s further development and growth journey. Nordstjernan and Ferd share many similarities in that we are family-controlled companies that both apply a long-term approach to our investments. We both also see great potential in the healthcare sector”, says Peter Hofvenstam, CEO of Nordstjernan.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the conditions of the transaction.

Peter Hofvenstam
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB
Questions will be answered by:
Stefan Stern, Head of Communications, Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 70 636 74 17
E-mail: stefan.stern@nordstjernan.se
 
Nordstjernan is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.