IK trebles money

Nordic based private equity firm Industri Kapital (IK) has sold Consolis, a French maker of precast concrete items, to mid-market operators LBO France for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction value has not been disclosed, but IK has made a return of just under 3x with a triple digit IRR. The Consolis story began in December 1997 when IK acquired Strängbetong of Sweden. It acquired Partek Precast Concrete a year later and merged the two to form Consolis, headquartered in Finland. In August 2005 when IK backed a €235m secondary buyout of Bonna Sabla from AXA Private Equity. A month later, IK supported the company in its €320m takeover of Consolis. The new organisation took the Consolis name and changed its headquarters to Brussels.

The company is now the largest manufacturer of prefabricated concrete elements in Europe. It owns 100 factories and it operates in 20 countries, with over 8000 employees and recording net sales of €1.1bn.

Christopher Masek, partner at Industri Kapital said: “The combination of the activities of Bonna Sabla and Consolis was a classic example of Industri Kapital supporting the development of a leading business with a strong international geographic footprint through the use of a buy-and-build strategy, while achieving further operational excellence. We are particularly pleased to have contributed to the creation of a European leader with both French and Nordic roots. This asset enjoyed dramatic value creation over the past twelve months and allowed us and our co-investors to generate a money multiple just shy of three times and a triple digit IRR.”