Montagu buys Sebia for the second time

Cinven has entered exclusive negotiations with a consortium led by London-based Montagu Private Equity and Paris-based Astorg Partners to sell Sebia, a medical technology company.

Cinven will sell the company for more than €1 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Cinven was in the middle of setting up an auction when it was approached by private equity firms as well as trade buyers, Nicolas Paulmier, a partner at Cinven, told Private Equity International.

Paulmier declined to comment on the firms that were interested, but Montagu and Astorg fought off competition from Nordic Capital, according to another source.

The sale, which is subject to competition and regulatory clearance, will generate a 2.4x return, according to a statement from Cinven.

Cinven bought the company from Montagu and Astorg for €800 million in March 2010 using its Fourth Fund, a €6.58 billion 2006-vintage. Montagu, which led the buyout of Sebia in 2006 alongside mezzanine specialist ICG and French private equity firm Astorg, generated a 3x return on that deal, PEI reported at the time.

Under Cinven’s ownership, Sebia has expanded its operations into the US and emerging markets. Sebia also launched new products including diabetes monitoring. “The company has launched [the product] successfully in France and Germany. In just over one year it has taken up 20 percent of market share,” Paulmier said.

In 2007, Cinven’s healthcare team invested in similar businesses including Phadia, the in-vitro diagnostics allergy testing business, which it sold to Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2011 generating a 3.4x return.

The investment in Sebia marks the fourth healthcare investment this year for Montagu and the third deal in France. In March, Montagu acquired Arkopharma, a French pharmaceutical company for approximately €300 million. In February, Montagu acquired DORC Holding, a provider of instruments and equipment for ophthalmic surgery, from an investor group including Rabo Capital, Van Lanschot Participaties and Oftavinc. In the same month, Montagu agreed to buy the healthcare devices and prescription retail divisions of London-listed packaging group Rexam for $805 million.

Sebia will be the eleventh investment from the firm’s €2.5 billion Montagu Private Equity IV fund, a 2010-vintage. Other investments in the fund include BSN Medical, which Montagu sold for €1.8 billion to EQT Partners in 2012, and ClyniSis, which it acquired from ECI Partners last July.