Last word

Apax Partners France is buying 541,110 shares in Sechilienne-Sidec from Air Liquide, representing a 39.5% stake in the company, at a price of €300m a share. The sole condition is obtaining authorisation by the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry, in terms of integration control. Sechilienne-Sidec is a listed company that designs and builds production units using fossil fuels. In 2004, the group has consolidated pro-forma turnover of €132m.

• ABN AMRO Capital has made its third acquisition in the Nordic region this year with a €230m MBO of Loparex Group, a producer of release liners for adhesive products. The asset has been sold by Finnish listed pulp and paper group UPM-Kymmene. Founded in 1904 and based in Helsinki, the company has 1,350 employees based in nine production plants and had turnover of €337m in 2004. Loparex has a 21% share of the siliconised release liner market and is primarily focused on the graphic arts, label, medical, hygiene and industrial sectors. It has strong positions in the US, Europe and a growing market share in India and China. Johan Bjurstrom, Nordic head of ABN AMRO Capital, said: “The company is well positioned to further consolidate this still fragmented industry and boost its operations in developing markets including India and China.”
• GE Commercial Finance has made new appointments in its capital markets team as it ramps up its activities in Europe. Zak Abideen and Ajit Madan have been appointed executive directors, Ian Devine becomes a director, and Paul Burgess becomes an associate director. Abideen joins from ING syndicated finance, where he focused on leveraged transactions. Madan came from loan capital markets at Deutsche Bank and Devine joined from Bank of Scotland. Burgess joined from McKinsey & Co, where he was a senior research associate.