Aug 23 2007
Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c), a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, today announces the signing of agreements to acquire Profine Group (also known as HT Troplast), the leading European developer, manufacturer and marketer of PVC window and door profiles. Profine was previously owned by Advent International and Carlyle Group. Profine, headquartered in Troisdorf (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) currently has production capacity of more than 450,000 tons of high-quality plastic. The group employs a total of more than 3,700 employees in 26 locations in 21 countries. Around 2,250 of these employees are in Germany. Turnover in 2006 was €848 million. In addition to a strong position in Western Europe, the group is already well-established in the high growth markets of Central and Eastern Europe (including Russia and Ukraine).where it generates more than 50% of its revenues.
Profine represents Arcapita’s third major investment in the building materials industry and its largest to date. It follows the €620 million acquisition of Paroc in Finland and the $514 million acquisitions of Tensar in the US and Tensar International in the UK, reflecting the strong interest of its investors and its increasing focus on this sector globally.
In addition to today’s announcement and the Paroc investment, the past year has been busy for Arcapita and has included the sale of Roxar, the Norwegian oil and gas technology services company, to CorrOcean for $388m, the recapitalization of Vogica, the French manufacturer and retailer of kitchens and bathrooms, completed in April 2007 and the subsequent recapitalization of Paroc in June 2007. The year was also marked by the largest Arcapita investment to date in the form of the successful £1.62bn public to private acquisition of Irish energy business Viridian.
Arcapita executed the Profine transaction out of its offices in London. Mounzer Nasr, head of Arcapita’s European Corporate Investment team, stated, “We are delighted to be announcing this transaction today, particularly in the context of turbulent private equity and credit markets which are causing many transactions to be canceled or postponed. Profine represents an opportunity for our investors to participate in the long-term growth opportunities of Eastern Europe where there is still a shortage of housing and the existing stock is in urgent need of renovation. The business has a very strong management team and we look forward to working closely with them.”