| The private equity funds managed by Qualitas Equity Partners (“Qualitas”) and Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie Private Equity (“LODH PE”) have acquired today the prefabricated concrete company Forte Hormigones Tecnológicos, S.L.
Forte is the fifth largest company in Spain and the largest in the Levante region in the prefabricated industry. The company was founded by Bernardo García-Forte 60 years ago and it closed 2004 with a turnover of 40 million euros.
Forte has a wide variety of products and a well established prestige in the prefabricated concrete sector for building construction, civil works, water pipelines and industrial warehouses. The investment of LODH PE and Qualitas, as well as the investment of the directors of the company, intends to fund the development of the company through organic growth and acquisition of other companies in the sector.
Mark Zünd, principal of LOHD PE, comments that “compared to other European markets, the Spanish prefabricated sector has an important development potential in terms of market penetration and product offering. The advantages of prefabricated concrete versus in-situ concrete in term of cost and quality in the civil construction sector, as well as the security of using prefabricated concrete versus metallic structures, have enabled prefabricated concrete to increase its importance in the building sector”.
Eric Halverson, partner of Qualitas, emphasises that “in Spain, the prefabricated concrete sector is at present very fragmented. With this investment, we want to consolidate the sector in order to increase scale economies and to be able to offer a better service for our clients at a reasonable cost. We are currently negotiating with several other companies in the sector”.
José Miguel Gil, Forte´s General Manager, mentions that “the entrance of Qualitas and Lombard enables Forte to serve as a catalyst for restructuring and consolidating the sector.”
Qualitas is a private equity firm whose investment activity is focused on buy-out operations of companies with turnover between 10 and 100 million euros. In 2004, Qualitas closed the acquisition of Azuvi, a leading Spanish company in the ceramic tile sector.
LODH Private Equity is a private equity firm with a wide experience in investments in Europe. During the last decade, its management team has worked, among other investments, in buy-outs in the sanitary and building materials sectors. The team has participated actively in the growth of companies in their portfolio in key European markets. LOHD PA has several direct and indirect investments in the construction industry in Europe.
|
