KKR to Buy Germany's ATU From Doughty Hanson for EU1.45 Billion
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the world's biggest buyout firm, agreed to purchase Germany's largest independent car-repair company for 1.45 billion euros ($1.75 billion), a month after an initial share sale was scrapped.
Doughty Hanson & Co., the buyout firm that owns the company, called ATU Auto-Teile-Unger AG, will get $850 million from the sale, three and a half times the amount it invested in 2002.
London-based Doughty Hanson is selling assets to return profits to investors to attract backers for a new 3 billion-euro takeover fund. A share sale of ATU, based in Weiden in southern Germany, was pulled in May because it would have valued the company at less than the minimum 1 billion euros that ATU Chief Executive Officer Werner Aichinger said it was worth.
``Due to volatile equity market conditions, the proposed initial public offering was postponed,'' Claus Felder, a partner at Doughty Hanson, said in a statement. ``KKR recognized the value and future potential of ATU.''
Under Doughty Hanson's ownership, ATU expanded its outlets by more than a fifth to 468 from 378 and sales rose 8 percent to 1.12 billion euros in 2003.
Separately, Doughty Hanson plans to announce the sale of Dunlop Standard Aerospace Holdings this week to Washington-based buyout firm Carlyle Group and Meggitt Plc, a U.K. maker of parts for civil airliners, people familiar with the situation have said. Doughty Hanson put $264 million into the maker of components for the aerospace industry in 1998.
Meggitt this month said it's in talks to buy Dunlop Standard. Carlyle spokeswoman Katherine Elmore-Jones declined to comment.
Buyout firms try to boost profit before selling companies within five years. U.K. buyout firms have 37 billion pounds ($67 billion) invested in companies they need to sell to make a profit, according to the Centre for Management Buyout Research.
Credit Suisse First Boston and HSBC Holdings Plc are advising Doughty Hanson on the sale of ATU.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Simon Clark in London sclark4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor for this story:
Tim Quinson at tquinson@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 30, 2004 05:33 EDT