Astorg sells Sebia

Astorg Partners, the French mid-market firm, has sold its interest in Sebia International, a French diagnostic equipment maker, to Montagu Private Equity for an undisclosed sum.

Montagu now owns a 50.1% stake in the business in a deal which will see Astorg retain a 16% share, the management holding 20% and Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) taking a 13% holding. Montagu invested through its 2005 fund, the €2.26bn Montagu III.

Guy Barouh founded Sebia in 1967 and led a €70m MBO in March 2001, backed by Astorg II, the €130m fund the firm raised in 1998. In the five years since, Sebia has acquired its US distributor, established a subsidiary in Spain, invested in a new production site three times the size of its previous site, and launched a breakthrough generation of machines.

Specialising in clinical electrophoresis (a way of separating molecules using electricity), it produces a range or reagents and automated diagnostic equipment from its location in Lisses, south of Paris. Its employs 300 people in seven countries, generating almost 75% of its revenues outside France.

CIC is placing the senior debt for the deal, and ICG, which provided mezzanine and equity financing in the original MBO in 2001, is underwriting the mezzanine this time around as well.