Outinord goes to ABN AMRO Capital

ABN AMRO Capital has acquired Outinord, a designer and manufacturer of steel frameworks for the construction industry from Siparex and SPEF LBO in a secondary buyout transaction. The selling price of the transaction was undisclosed. The sellers realized a multiple of more than 4x over four years, with an IRR of 41.7%.

Siparex Groupe and Spef LBO backed the LBO of France-based Financière Concrète Expansion group (FCE) in April 2002 for an undisclosed sum. At the time the business had two branches: Outinord and Sateco.

This transaction marks a complete exit for Siparex and SPEF LBO. The private equity firms sold Sateco in 2004 to AXA Private Equity and Ciclad for an undisclosed sum, which allowed FCE to repay the original LBO debt and focus its business on Outinord.

Since the acquisition, Outinord has expanded its sales of concrete formwork solutions to export markets, particularly in the Americas and Eastern Europe. Its sales have steadily increased, to €50m in 2005, and the company still has a strong growth outlook, particularly outside France.

Pierre Rispoli, deputy general manager of Sigefi Private Equity, the management company of the Siparex group, said: “This deal demonstrates the pertinence of the Siparex group’s local approach, as it has had a presence in Lille for five years, in close cooperation with a certain number of the region’s industrial families.”