In brief

Industrial group Kendrion has reached an agreement with Sweden’s Credelity Capital on the disposal of its Swedish subsidiary, Kendrion Fastening. The total value of the transaction is understood to be in excess of US$40m based on turnover multiples.

Kendrion Fastening consists of four companies in Sweden and has a turnover of €30m and 125 employees. Its activities are focused on the production and sale of fasteners. This disposal fits Kendrion’s strategy, which is aimed at niche market leadership in selected business-to-business markets. With the disposal of Kendrion Fastening, a book profit of approximately €7m will be realised. This transaction will leads to a further reduction in debt of an amount of approximately €17m as well as a strengthening of the solvency of Kendrion.

• Hermes Private Equity, the private equity arm of Hermes Pensions Management, has backed the £62m management buyout of Ashworth Mairs Group, a loss adjuster and outsourced service provider to the UK insurance sector. The transaction marks an exit for David Mairs, former chief executive officer of the group, and Helen Wareham, both of whom founded the business in 1992.

The management team is being led by group managing director Kevin Wood. Hermes Private Equity held a closing of its second fund, HPEP II, for £250m in 2005. The fund is focused on the UK and European medium-sized buyout market. HPE has led the management buyouts of Walbrook, Merlin Entertainments, Oyezstraker Group, Elec-Track Installations and The Works.

• Reiten portfolio company Plugging Specialist International was sold to US-based TD Williamson for NKr444m plus an earn-out option. Reiten’s fifth fund took a 43% stake in PSI in 2003, which was increased to 53% in 2005. Before earn-outs, returns for investors were 3.3x.

Earlier this year, Reiten exited EuroProcessing International and property investment company Heimstaden. EPI was sold to First Data Corporation of the US for €100m and Heimstaden to Fredensborg Eiendomsselskap for SKr1.9bn. RCP V’s total investment in these three companies was NKr374.5m and it realised proceeds of approximated NKr900m. Reiten, based in Oslo, is a middle-market private equity investor in the Nordic region, with a total of €220m of assets under management.

• Duke Street Capital has acquired Groupe Proclif, an operator of private hospitals in the Paris region. The company has an approximate turnover of €40m and 309 beds. Proclif operates two hospitals, the Centre Medico Chirurgical et Obstetrical d’Evry and the Polyclinique de Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.

France has around 700 clinics offering private hospital care, according to Duke Street Partner, Boris Zaitra. He said that with so much fragmentation, Proclif had the ideal platform to act as a consolidator for the industry. Duke Street operates offices in London and Paris, focusing on mid-market buyouts of businesses with values of up to €300m.