European private equity firm Pai Partners has agreed a deal to acquire European facility management services provider Apleona from investor EQT for €1.6 bn.
The business is being divested by the EQT VII fund.
Andreas Aschenbrenner, partner at EQT Partners said: 'Today, Apleona is the market leader in the technical and integrated facilities management space. It has a strong platform to continue to drive market consolidation and further key account wins as the partner of choice for its blue-chip clients.
'We would like to thank Apleona’s CEO, Jochen Keysberg, the broader management team, the supervisory board and the advisory committee, as well as all employees for supporting EQT and Apleona along our joint journey.'
Headquartered in Neu-Isenburg, Germany, Apleona provides technical facility management services, complemented by infrastructural and commercial facility management across the DACH markets. EQT acquired the company in 2016 through a carve-out from Bilfinger, a listed German industrial services conglomerate.
EQT said it had supported Apleona’s transformation into a pure-play services provider with a technical edge through investments in its digitalised and scalable platform and divestments of non-core businesses during its tenure. This included the spin off of its UK real estate advisory business GVA in 2018. Apleona's EBITA bita has grown over 10% per year over the hold period.
Today, Apleona has more than 20,000 employees, managing tens of thousands of buildings and offices in over 30 countries across Europe.
Matthias Wittkowski, partner at EQT Partners, added: 'This transaction underlines EQT’s position as the market leading investor in the services sector. We are proud to have supported Jochen and his team in accelerating the development of Apleona particularly along our core themes of growth, digitalisation and sustainability.'
Ralph Heuwing, partner at PAI Partners, said: 'We are excited to invest in Apleona, an excellent fit with PAI’s investment philosophy of acquiring industry leaders and capitalising on attractive market fundamentals as well as tangible consolidation opportunities.
'The platform prepared by EQT and CEO Jochen Keysberg has laid the foundation for efficiency, digital excellence and continued growth. We look forward to a successful journey together.'
Jochen Keysberg, CEO of Apleona, concluded: 'We have very much enjoyed the collaborative journey under EQT ownership and are thrilled to see how Apleona has benefited from EQT’s expertise and the investments made since the carve-out.
'We are very excited to take this next step of our journey together with PAI and enter a new phase of growth both through M&A and also our enhanced organic growth potential.'
Certain shares in the proceeds will be shared with Bilfinger, resulting in expected proceeds of approximately €450-470 mln to Bilfinger’s preferred participation note.
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close early Q2 2021. Deutsche Bank acted as financial advisor to EQT.
