Infraneo
Date: April 2021
Operation: Acquisition of Martin GmbH
Turnover: €50m
Sector(s): Services and Distribution, EEC
Activity: Infrastructure asset management
After Belgium and Spain, INFRANEO is now gaining a foothold in Germany with this third external growth operation since the arrival of Sparring Capital as majority shareholder, and is approaching revenue of €50 million.
Resulting from a collaboration within the M&A Worldwide network, the acquisition of the German firm MARTIN GmbH (protection systems against corrosion for pipelines, Hattingen) by INFRANEO (infrastructure asset management) arose from discussions between Didier Busquet, LINKERS partner and Arnaud Leclercq, Managing Partner of Sparring Capital, INFRANEO’s majority shareholder. The operation was possible due to the front-line experience and responsiveness of the M&A Worldwide network. LINKERS asked its German partner to assist in identifying relevant targets for INFRANEO in a business sector that Kaï-Henrik Barth, partner of ACTIVE M&A, is highly familiar with. A target was identified, MARTIN GmbH, which was already at an advanced stage of the divestment process with a local counterpart considered to have made the best offer with regard to safeguarding jobs. INFRANEO charged LINKERS and ACTIVE M&A with an advisory mission for the acquisition of this target. After some negotiation difficulties, but with the benefit of convincing arguments about the quality of the French buyer and their need to retain the team, the vendors concluded an exclusive agreement with INFRANEO in December 2020; the operation was completed in April 2021, since authentication of documents (by a notary) is a fairly long process in Germany…
M&A Buy-side: LINKERS (Didier BUSQUER, Partner).