IK completes two partial exits

Industri Kapital completed two partial stock market exits in the last few weeks, reducing its stake in Alfa Laval to zero and cutting its holding in Intrum Justitia.

IK placed its remaining stake in engineering company Alfa Laval through Enskilda Securities and CSFB. The move was the fourth placement since the company’s IPO in May 2002 on the back of a steadily improving share price. The result doubled the IK 2000 fund’s investment in Alfa Laval, which was bought from Tetra Laval in 2000. The fund sold its remaining 8.5% stake in the firm, or 9.5m shares, for SKr116.5 per share, or a total deal size of SKr1.1bn.

According to equity market sources, the book was four times covered at the final pricing, partly because the sale was well flagged. Swedish investors made up the largest group in the book, with the UK also featuring in distribution.

Industri Kapital acquired a 62.2% stake in Alfa Laval in August 2000, before reducing this to 26.9% through the May 2002 IPO. This has been followed by IK selling further stakes each year since the buyout. Despite the removal of the overhang, the stock struggled during the rest of the week, closing at SKr115.5 on Thursday, March 10.

“We are happy to have returned this ‘classic’ Swedish company to the Stockholm Exchange”, said Christian Salamon, partner of Industri Kapital.

IK also reduced its holding in Intrum Justitia to 18.4%. The debt collection management company was acquired by IK’s 1997 fund through a public offering on the London Stock Exchange in March 1998. The latest sale follows a partial exit in June 2002, through an IPO on the Stockholm exchange, although IK only participated in the greenshoe on that occasion.

The fund has realised a 3x return on its investment with the sale of 5.56m shares in Intrum Justitia, or a 6.6% stake. IK’s holding decreased from 21m shares to 15.6m shares, corresponding to a change in ownership from 25% to 18.4%.