ELFA exit for IK

Industri Kapital, the Nordic mid-market player, has made a 3x return on the €222m sale of Swedish electronic components retail business ELFA, a Swedish electronic components retail business.

The buyer, Daetwlyer, is a Swiss supplier and distributor of engineering and electronic products.

ELFA is a leading distributor in the Nordic countries, Poland, the Baltic region and Russia, with over 56,000 customers. Last year, the Stockholm-headquartered business generated an EBITDA of €19m on net sales of €105m, most of which was generated by the maintenance, repair and operations business.

Industri Kaptial oversaw the growth of ELFA both organically and through acqusitions, including Tevalo Group, CLL, and Øistein Røed.

Partner Michael Rosenlew said: “ELFA has been a very good investment for IK. We are pleased to have worked closely with management to grow and develop the business. We have successfully demonstrated IK’s strategy of both organic and acquisition led growth together with a focus on operational improvements.”

The sale is IK’s first exit of 2008, and it’s first since it closed its sixth fund, the Industri Kapital 2007 Fund, in October on €1.675bn, more than double the previous fund, the Industri Kapital 2004 Fund. The firm has made one acquisition this year, Groupe Etanco, a French designer, maker and distributor of building fastener and fixing systems.