HSBC Sees Two Strategic Exits –

HSBC Private Equity has sold Mira showers, part of the Caradon plumbing division, to Kohler Corp., for GBP301 million. The firm acquired Caradon Plumbing from Novar in November 2000 in a GBP496 million institutional buyout. The sale of Mira marks a swift exit for HSBC Private Equity. It also follows the recent sale of another division of Caradon, Twyford Bathrooms to Sanitec, earlier this year for GBP84 million, completing the program of disposals that was planned at the time of the acquisition.

Phil Goodwin, head of U.K. investment for HSBC Private Equity, said, “We have now sold two of the five businesses we acquired, and this together with better management of working capital has recouped almost all of the original investment.”

HSBC Private Equity will continue to develop the remaining Caradon businesses – boilers and radiators – Goodwin says are also performing strongly under the leadership of Trevor Harvey.

Caradon Plumbing was advised by Credit Suisse First Boston, Eversheds and Ernst & Young. Kohler Corp. was advised by Andersen and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.

HSBC Private Equity is the European private equity arm of the HSBC Group. It has internal and external funds under management of over GBP1 billion and a network of offices in London, Manchester, Paris, Dusseldorf and Stockholm. The firm has supported more than 400 businesses over the last thirty years, and in 2000 arranged five transactions with a total value of EURO2.1 billion.

In other HSBC exit news, the firm sold M&M Medical. The Stockholm-based medical services contract has been acquired by ISS Care Partner AB, a subsidiary of the Copenhagen- and London-listed support services group ISS, for SEK850 million. The deal provides an exit for HSBC, which acquired a 75% interest in the company in 1999.

Since HSBC Private Equity’s investment in the company, it has achieved double-digit growth and has continued to develop and strengthen its position within the Swedish health-care market, adding new health-care services to its program and attaining ISO 9002 certification. The company has 360 employees and revenue for 2001 is anticipated to reach around SEK400 million.

Founded by Mikael Lonn in 1986, M&M Medical has become a leading provider of acute care and radiology services in Sweden. The company provides a high quality, low cost service to those covered by the State Insurance Scheme, and its facilities have helped to significantly cut treatment waiting times.

The company provides a range of health-care services in Stockholm and Uppsala, including the management and operation of four local hospitals, with a new addition to be opened shortly. It also operates five radiology units that include four MRI cameras and undertake ophthalmology and hearing aid tests.

HSBC Private Equity has external and internal funds under management of more than GBP1 billion and a network of offices in London, Manchester, Paris, Dusseldorf and Stockholm. The division has supported approximately 400 businesses over the last thirty years, and in 2000 arranged five transactions with a total value of euro2.1 billion.