Nmas1 looks to lock in return with Salto

Spanish private equity group N+1 Mercapital and its listed affiliate Dinamia have taken a 22 percent stake in Spanish electronic lock-maker Salto, in a deal that values the business at around €160 million.

Salto is based in Oiartzun, just outside San Sebastian in Northern Spain. According to N+1, it is now the fifth largest electronic locks company worldwide, with operations in more than 90 countries. It has developed a particular strength in the education sector, supplying locks to the likes of Princeton and Cambridge universities, and also the transport sector, counting Heathrow and Munich airports among its clients.

In keeping with many of N+1's recent Spanish deals, Salto has a strong bias towards overseas markets. More than half of its 290 staff are based outside of Spain, the company said, while exports are likely to have accounted for more than 95 percent of sales in 2013.

Dinamia, which became Spain's first listed private equity group when it completed an initial piublic offering in 1997, is also managed by the N+1 team and co-invests in all its deals. As part of this deal, it will take a 5.5 percent stake in Salto, at a cost of €8.7 million.

The two groups recently enjoyed a successful exit from Mivisa, a Spanish packaging manufacturer, in which they were minority investors alongside The Blackstone Group. The sale, to US trade buyer Crown Holdings, generated an IRR of 35 percent for the three groups.