Nordic Capital launches sale of Luvata’s cooling technology ops: Reuters

Buyout group Nordic Capital is launching the sale of its UK-based refrigeration technology and metal components company Luvata, hoping to benefit from still relatively high equity prices, several sources familiar with the matter said.

As an initial step, Nordic Capital has put on the block Luvata’s Heat Transfer Solutions unit, which makes technology for coolers and air conditioners used in applications from fruit storage to ACs in cars and buildings, they said.

Nordic Capital is working with Citi on the divestment of the asset, which may fetch roughly 500 million euros.

Citi declined to comment, while Nordic Capital was not immediately for comment.

“We are just entering into the process of finding new owners,” a Luvata spokesman said.

Luvata’s refrigeration technology business has annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of roughly 60 million euros ($65.7 million), the sources said.

Nordic is expected to shop Luvata’s heat transfer technology to private equity groups like Triton, Bridgepoint, EQT and Bain as well some strategic players.

In 2014, private equity group Triton bought the heat exchangers division of Germany’s GEA Group for more than 11 times the unit’s core earnings and Alstom‘s heat exchanger operations at a multiple of about 10 times.

At a later stage, the remaining activities of Luvata will be put on the block, the sources said.

Nordic is hoping to maximize its returns by running separate auctions, as the other parts of Luvata, copper tubes and special products – ranging from metallurgical components to superconductors – are expected to appeal to a different set of potential buyers.

Luvata reported sales of 1.57 billion euros on group level in 2014. Last year, its EBITDA grew by 8 percent, the company said without disclosing the actual amount.

Luvata has 37 plants worldwide and employs roughly 7,000 staff. ($1 = 0.9130 euros)

(Reporting by Sven Nordenstam and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Victoria Bryan)

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