Northern Europe-focused private equity group Triton said Monday it has agreed to sell technical installation and service solutions company Bravida AB to Bain Capital (BCI.XX), the latest example of how the Nordic private equity sector continues to defy the slowdown seen across the rest of Europe.

"Bravida is entering a new phase of consolidation and expansion, possibly into new geographic areas, and we believe this was a good time to sell the business," Thomas Tarnowski, Triton partner and Bravida board member told Dow Jones Newswires.

According to Tarnowski the outlook for the Nordic economies currently looks very positive in contrast to rest of Europe and especially southern Europe, adding that he expects to see more transactions in the Nordic private equity market in 2012.

"Both investors and banks have a positive view of the Nordics in general, which helps when buyers and sellers want to agree on a price," he said, adding that Nordic banks are comparatively positive to good deals. Bravida, he said, is a good case as it has navigated the financial crisis with improved margins and good cash flow, which proves the resilience of its business model.

In the first quarter of 2012, 24 deals worth a total of $2.4 billion were announced in the Nordic region, according to data provider Dealogic. The 2011 figure is up on the $2.2 billion of deals announced in the same period in 2011 and more than double the $1.1 billion announced in 2010.

Dow Jones Newswires reported last week that the sale of the business was set to fetch between EUR700 million and EUR1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Triton, however, declined to disclose financial details.

Tarnowski said the process to sell Bravida was fairly quick. The company received indicative bids at the beginning of March, the winning bid was submitted Thursday, and the deal was signed late Friday.

Looking ahead, Tarnowski said his company is looking at a number of investment cases, primarily underperforming businesses that have opportunities to improve operations.

Triton bought Bravida--which provides installation, maintenance and servicing for electrical, plumbing, and heating installations--in December 2006 for an undisclosed sum from Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor (TEL.OS) as part of the corporate's program of divestment of non-core activities.

Bravida has approximately 8,000 employees and net sales of SEK10.77 billion in 2011.

-By Jens Hansegard, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3095; jens.hansegard@dowjones.com

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