Fives Lilles in secondary buyout

Industri Kapital has sold its controlling stake in industrial engineering group Group Fives-Lilles (GFL) to Barclays Private Equity France and GFL’s management for just under €300m. Including the group’s €135m recapitalisation in July last year, Industri Kapital has made a return of over 2x generating an IRR of 30%. The realisation is the first exit for Industri Kapital France from its Industri Kapital 2000 Fund.

Including GFL, Industri Kapital has returned around €1bn to investors since the beginning of 2003. GFL was acquired by Industri Kapital through a public-to-private on the Paris Borse in February 2001. The business has more than doubled its profit under Industri Kapital’s ownership.

Financing was provided by Euromezzanine, Société Générale and Royal Bank of Scotland.