Reuters LONDON, Sept 3
Private equity firm Bridgepoint agreed to buy Austrian refrigeration manufacturer AHT Cooling from Quadriga Capital and Partners Group for 585 million euros ($771.52 million), a statement from the companies said.
Quadriga bought AHT in 2007 backed with 225 million euros of debt, according to Thomson Reuters LPC records, and hired Macquarie and William Blair earlier this year as advisers on the sale process.
EQT, Nordic Capital and Ontario Teachers as well as strategic buyers Carrier Refrigeration and Dover Corporation also bid for AHT.
Unicredit, ING and Societe Generale will provide financing, the companies’ statement said, and banking sources said the debt – in all-senior leveraged loans of about 350 million euros – will be syndicated to other banks and institutional investors.
AHT, which employs 1,100 people and has a factory in Austria and one in China, wants to expand internationally, especially in emerging markets including Asia and Latin America, it said.
The company was listed on the Austrian stock exchange from 1998 to 2003 and forecasts sales of 330 million euros in 2013, compared with 292 million in 2012. Sales were 80 million in 2007.