Bids Due on SIF Group Sale

LONDON (Reuters) – Second-round bids for offshore mono-pile maker SIF Group, being sold by Dutch private equity firm Egeria, are due early to mid-April, two banking sources said on Thursday.

Apax Partners, BC Partners, Investcorp and First Reserve are through to the next round, as is one undisclosed trade buyer, the sources added.

The business has a target enterprise value of up to 500 million euros ($683 million) and banks are looking at a possible financing of around 200 million euros, one of the sources said.

The sale is not backed with a staple financing, the source added.

Goldman Sachs is advising on the sale, both the sources said.

Egeria declined to comment.

Egeria acquired a majority interest in SIF from its family owners in December 2005. The financing that backed that buyout was recapitalised in June 2008 through a 96.2 million euro financing arranged by ING Bank and Rabobank, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data.

Roermond-headquartered SIF specialises in manufacturing steel sub-sea structures for the offshore oil and gas industry and the offshore wind power industry.

SIF’s sales totalled around 140 million euros in 2008, according to Egeria’s website. (Reporting by Alasdair Reilly; Editing by David Holmes) ($1=.7321 Euro)