Montagu buys LogStor

Montagu Private Equity, the UK-based mid-market buyout firm, has agreed to acquire LogStor, a Danish manufacturer of pre-insulated pipes.

Montagu bought LogStor in a limited auction from Danish buyout firms Axcel and Polaris Private Equity and Kaupthing subsidiary FIH.

Although no financial terms of the secondary buyout were revealed, LogStor has annual sales of €250m (US$317m) and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €25m. Given a sector multiple of just less than 15x Ebitda, LogStor could have cost about €350m.

In August, LogStor bolted on France-listed industrial group Alstom’s Flowsystems Business, which had annual sales of €150m. Through the acquisition, LogStor now manufactures complete pre-insulated pipe systems for transportation of gases and liquids to the district heating and cooling, oil and gas, marine and industrial sectors.

The company’s growth prospects rely on its core markets replacing district heating pipes; tapping new markets, such as Russia; providing cooling systems around the Mediterranean; and moving more into pipes for the oil and gas industry.

Preben Tolstrup will continue as chief executive of LogStor with Ole Andersen as chairman.

The deal is Montagu’s third transaction in the Nordic region in the last 12 months, following its appointment of Matt Lyons and Peter Dahlberg as investment managers for the region. In 2005 Montagu divested Finnish Chemicals to Kemira for €345m and acquired VetXX from Danish pharmaceutical company Leo Pharma.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance advised Montagu with debt from Nordea.