Segulah V L.P. has entered into an agreement to acquire Francks Kylindustri AB from the Franck family and CEO Per Hannius.

Francks is a leading company within the industrial refrigeration market with a turnover of approximately MSEK 450. The company, founded in 1950, has approximately 200 employees and is headquartered in Norrköping. With offices at ten locations from Ludvika in the north to Helsingborg in the south, Francks undertakes complex refrigeration installations in a number of industries.

Both current Chairman Göran Franck and CEO Per Hannius will remain as shareholders alongside Segulah.

”I look forward to working with Segulah to grow Francks and develop the business for our customers. With Segulah as a new, strong majority shareholder, we get the opportunity to invest further, both organically and through strategic acquisitions”, says Per Hannius.

“Segulah, who previously has completed several successful investments in the installation sector, is pleased to be the new majority shareholder of Francks and look forward to develop the business together with Francks’ strong management team”, says Marcus Planting-Bergloo, Partner at Segulah Advisor AB.

The acquisition is the eight investment for Segulah V L.P.

For further information, please visit www.franckskylindustri.se,
www.segulah.com or contact:

Per Hannius, CEO, Francks, +46 73 53 99 225

Marcus Planting-Bergloo, Partner, Segulah Advisor AB, +46 70 22 91 185

Investment AB Latour (publ) has, through its subsidiary Aritco Group, acquired TKS Heis AS based in NÆRBØ, Norway. Closing will take place on 31 January, 2019.

TKS Heis is a leading Norwegian manufacturer and installer of platform lifts and installer of passenger lifts. The company was founded in 1997 and has built a business with development and manufacturing at the head office in NÆRBØ and a sales, installation and aftermarket organization that serves the majority of the Norwegian market. Sales for 2018 amounted to NOK 155 million and the company has 74 employees.

The acquisition of TKS Heis complements Aritco’s product portfolio and strengthens its offering to existing distribution networks. In addition, the acquisition strengthens an already strong position in the Norwegian market.

“TKS Heis has been a reseller of Aritco’s products in Norway since 1997 and I am very pleased to have Latour and Aritco as a new owner. I am convinced that Aritco as a long-term and industrial owner with a customer base in a large number of markets will constitute an excellent foundation for continued growth for TKS Heis and our products in and outside Norway”, Says Tønnes Helge Kverneland, CEO of T. Kverneland & Sønner AS.

“We have had a close partnership with TKS Heis since 1997 and we have come to know TKS as a very professional player, the acquisition secures this relationship for the future. TKS gives us access to a product that complements our existing range in an excellent way. In addition, TKS Heis adds great experience and expertise in the aftermarket field, which will help us in our development of aftermarket products and services” says Martin Idbrant, CEO of Aritco Group.

Göteborg, 11 January, 2019

INVESTMENT AB LATOUR (PUBL)
Jan Svensson President and CEO

For further information, please contact:
Martin Idbrant, VD Aritco group AB, 0727 15 36 52
Gustav Samuelsson, affärsutveckling Investment AB Latour, 0735 52 55 59

Aritco Group is a globally leading manufacturer of platform lifts for one-family houses and accessibility adaptation of public/commercial buildings. Sales go through a strong network of local partners in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

Investment AB Latour is a mixed investment company consisting primarily of a wholly-owned industrial operations and an investment portfolio of listing holdings in which Latour is the principal owner or one of the principal owners. The investment portfolio consists of ten substantial holdings with a market value of about SEK 49 billion. The wholly-owned industrial operations has an annual turnover of about SEK 11 billion.  

Ratos’s subsidiary airteam is continuing its expansion in Sweden through the acquisition of Creovent AB (Creovent) and Thorszelius Ventilation & Service AB (Thorszelius), leading installers of climate and ventilation solutions in the Stockholm and Uppsala regions.

airteam, a leading supplier of ventilation solutions in Denmark, is strengthening its market position in Sweden through the acquisition of Aurvandil AB, who owns the subsidiaries Creovent and Thorszelius. Together they have approximately 85 employees with offices in Stockholm and Uppsala. Pro forma sales in 2017 for both companies amounted to approximately SEK 235m and adjusted EBITA to SEK 24m. The companies offer efficient climate and ventilation solutions, including service and maintenance, to a customer base comprising property owners, construction companies and the public sector. This is airteam’s second acquisition in the Swedish market and its third bolt-on acquisition overall since Ratos became principal owner of the company in 2016.

“With the acquisition of Creovent and Thorszelius, airteam is continuing its strategic investments in Sweden, and together with the acquisition of Luftkontroll Energy in Örebro last year, airteam now has a strong market position in the expansive Mälardalen region. Creovent and Thorszelius are well-run companies with strong market positions in the Stockholm and Uppsala regions and have competent management teams, who will remain in their roles and be partners in the company moving forward. We welcome Creovent and Thorszelius to airteam and look forward with confidence to growing together in Sweden,” says Robin Molvin, Vice President of Ratos.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019 and is being financed by airteam without any capital contribution from Ratos.

For further information, please contact:
Robin Molvin, Vice President, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 15
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98

About Ratos:
Ratos is an investment company that owns and develops unlisted medium-sized Nordic companies. Our goal as an active owner is to contribute to the long-term and sustainable business development in the companies we invest in and to make value-generating transactions. Ratos’s portfolio consists of 12 medium-sized Nordic companies and the largest segments in terms of sales are Construction, Industrials and Consumer goods/retail. Ratos is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and has a total of approximately 12,300 employees.

CBPE Capital (“CBPE”) has acquired a majority ownership position in IDEAL Networks, a market leading Industrial Technology business which provides portable handsets for data cable and network testing, validation and certification. CBPE is acquiring the business from its former parent, IDEAL INDUSTRIES Inc and will be investing alongside the incumbent management team led by Paul Walsh, CEO. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

IDEAL Networks’ products improve the productivity of qualified engineers who install, test and maintain network cabling and services. They work by simulating data flow to provide network diagnostics, enabling the engineers to certify newly installed network cabling or to resolve network issues across both Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN). IDEAL Networks is a global business, with sales across the EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia.

Its comprehensive portfolio of products means that IDEAL Networks is well positioned to take advantage of a high growth market driven by ever-increasing demands for rapid and reliable network connectivity to facilitate global trends of faster transmission of data, voice and video signals.

CBPE will work with management to build on IDEAL Networks’ reputation for product innovation and will invest in research and development. The business will continue to offer market leading products developed to suit the needs of its end users.

CBPE has a strong track record of acquiring subsidiaries or divisions from larger parents and supporting these in becoming successful standalone businesses. Examples from CBPE’s current and realised portfolio include: SAFECHEM, which was acquired from The Dow Chemical Company; Xafinity, which was acquired from the Equiniti Group; and BWA, which was acquired from Chemtura. CBPE will leverage this experience to support the management team in establishing IDEAL Networks as an independent market leader and in pursuing ambitious international growth.

Mathew Hutchinson, Partner, CBPE said:
“IDEAL Networks has successfully established a reputation for quality and service in an attractive and growing market, and we are confident that the business will thrive under independent ownership. We will work with the management team and support their commitment to continue to offer innovative products and services which match the needs of the customer base.”

Paul Walsh, CEO of IDEAL Networks said:
“We are delighted to be working with CBPE and look forward to establishing IDEAL Networks as a successful, independent market leader. IDEAL INDUSTRIES has been a supportive owner and has enabled us to reach this stage of our development. With CBPE, we are confident we have found a partner that will provide valuable input as we pursue our exciting growth plans.”

CBPE’s investment in IDEAL Networks was led by Mathew Hutchinson with support from Ben Lewis, James Whittington and Aqil Sohail. Mathew Hutchinson and Ben Lewis will join the Board of IDEAL Networks.

Reed Smith acted as legal advisers to CBPE and PMSI provided the commercial due diligence advice. William Blair acted as financial adviser to IDEAL INDUSTRIES Inc.

HAMBURG – December 21, 2018 – The Maillis Group (“Maillis”), a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital LLC (“H.I.G.”), and the world’s second largest manufacturer of end-of-line packaging equipment, has sold Wulftec International, Inc. (“Wulftec”) to Duravant, a global engineered equipment and automation solutions provider to the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors.

Wulftec is the market-leading provider of end-of-line packaging automation solutions in North America. Wulftec leverages decades of engineering expertise and manufacturing know-how to deliver highly customized and scalable solutions that address the most complex end-of-line packaging challenges across a diversified customer base. Founded in 1990, Wulftec is located in Ayer’s Cliff, Quebec.

Wolfgang Biedermann, Managing Director of H.I.G. Europe, commented: “Wulftec is the leader in the end-of-line packaging automation market with a truly compelling value proposition. The capability to deliver highly value-added solutions, and to provide around-the-clock customer service with a best in class technical support team are unmatched in the industry. Since our acquisition of Maillis, we have significantly invested into Wulftec’s expansion and management has done an outstanding job to drive the company’s strong growth trajectory”.

About Maillis
Established in 1968, Maillis is the world’s second largest manufacturer of end-of-line packaging equipment and offers its customers “one-stop solutions”. In addition to supplying consumables such as strapping and film products, Maillis produces innovative packaging machines under well-known brand names and offers its customers international after-sales services.

Maillis is an international company with seven production sites located in Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Canada and the United States, with approximately 1,300 employees. With more than 15,000 customers and a broad product portfolio, Maillis generates more than €260 million in revenues. The company’s customer base extends to the food and beverage, aluminium, steel, construction, timber and bailing industries and it is the exclusive or preferred supplier to major industrial and consumer products multinationals such as US Steel, Nestle, Coca Cola, P&G, Henkel, Pepsi, Mars, Lafarge, Alcoa, ArcelorMittal, Corus, Wall-mart and others. www.maillis.com.

About Duravant
Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Duravant is a global engineered equipment company with manufacturing, sales and service facilities throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Through their portfolio of operating companies, Duravant delivers trusted end-to-end process solutions for customers and partners through engineering and integration expertise, project management and operational excellence. With worldwide sales distribution and service networks, they provide immediate and lifetime aftermarket support to all the markets they serve in the food processing, packaging and material handling sectors. Duravant’s market-leading brands are synonymous with innovation, durability and reliability. Duravant is a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus. www.duravant.com

About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over €26 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach:

1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of €28 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.