European private equity firm Cinven is in exclusive negotiations to sell Prezioso Linjebygg Group (Prezioso), an international provider of a range of multidisciplinary technical and engineering services to the energy and infrastructure sectors, to Altrad Group.
Altrad, headquartered in France, is the leading European provider of scaffolding, insulation, painting and mechanical services to customers in the industrial, construction and infrastructure sectors.
Prezioso, headquartered in France, provides mission critical maintenance services for sizeable and high value energy assets, particularly nuclear plants and oil and gas production facilities, when they are in full operation. Its blue-chip clients include Total, EDF, BP, Exxon, Chevron and Statoil. It operates internationally in the off-shore and on- shore oil and gas segment in the North Sea, Western Africa and the Middle East and the French industrial coating, insulation and scaffolding market.
Cinven acquired Prezioso in June 2012. The investment was originated by Cinven’s Business Services team, which was looking for assets in energy services combining growth and resilience, along with Cinven’s French team. Cinven positioned itself effectively as the most credible buyer for Prezioso and successfully executed the transaction outside a formal process.
Altrad, based in Montpellier and founded 30 years ago by Mohed Altrad, has grown significantly both organically and through acquisition. Following its acquisition of Hertel in 2014, Altrad generated sales of EUR1.9 billion and EBITDA of EUR230 million in 2015.
It is the European leader for SIPM (Scaffolding, Insulation, Painting and Mechanical) services, and has leading positions in scaffolding manufacturing, hire and sales as well as equipment for construction and local authorities. It also has a significant presence in Asia, Australia, Azerbaijan and in the Middle East through Hertel.
Nicolas Paulmier, Partner at Cinven, says: “Cinven acquired Prezioso in June 2012. Since then, Prezioso has constantly grown its earnings in its key geographies. We had the privilege of working with a highly skilled and entrepreneurial management team to achieve this result.
“Cinven has a significant track record of successful ‘buy and build’ investment strategies. Prezioso is no exception. The acquisition of Norwegian oil and gas services business, Linjebygg Offshore, was transformational for Prezioso; it significantly internationalised the business and positioned the Group as a global asset integrity champion away from a multi-local maintenance provider when we acquired the business. We are delighted that Prezioso will continue its development within a high quality Industrial group with a very strong entrepreneurial culture.”
Pierre Estrade, Senior Principal at Cinven, adds: “Over the last four years, together with management, Cinven has made a significant investment in Prezioso’s governance, organisation, procedures and tools to support our ambitious expansion strategy for the Group. As a result, Prezioso has been able to deliver double digit revenue and profit growth.
“We believe that Altrad has a clear and ambitious vision for Prezioso which will provide the Group with new addressable market opportunities and further significant growth prospects. We wish the Prezioso and Altrad management teams every success going forward.”
