Reuters: Private Equity: UPDATE 2-Ratos sells pest control firm Anticimex to EQT

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UPDATE 2-Ratos sells pest control firm Anticimex to EQT Apr 2nd 2012, 11:08 Mon Apr 2, 2012 7:08am EDT * Deal values Anticimex at 2.9 bln crowns * Ratos bought 85 pct of Anticimex in 2006 * Anticimex has performed well under Ratos' control (Adds detail, analyst and company comment) By Sven Nordenstam and Niklas Pollard STOCKHOLM, April 2 (Reuters) - Sweden's Ratos is selling pest control firm Anticimex to fellow private equity group EQT in a deal that valued the company at about 2.9 billion crowns ($437.05 million), keeping up the steady pace of Nordic deals. Ratos, which owns 85 percent of Anticimex, said on Monday that the selling price for 100 percent of the shares amounted to 1.775 billion crowns and that it would book a net exit gain on the transaction of about 940 million crowns. Nordic private equity firms have been active over the past year while hundreds of billions in cheap three-year loans issued to banks by the European Central Bank have eased the credit squeeze seen at the end of 2011 due to the eurozone debt crisis. The other owners of Anticimex had also agreed to the sale, which was expected to be completed at the end of the second quarter after approval from regulatory authorities, it added. Ratos appointed advisers to help sell Anticimex late last year. "We had expected a higher valuation. It is possible we were a bit too optimistic. But we have seen that the ability to borrow has come back," Swedbank analyst Niclas Hoglund said. "This type of asset with a relatively high structural growth in combination with the ability to borrow indicated that we might see a higher valuation." Ratos's head of investor relations, Emma Rheborg, said the price was in line with the average of seven sell-side analysts' estimates, based on research notes issued after Ratos' fourth quarter report. She said independent Stockholm-based corporate finance advisory firm Navigo Partners advised Ratos on the sale. The buyer, EQT, one third-owned by holding company Investor AB which is controlled by Sweden's powerful Wallenberg family, focuses on buying medium-sized to large companies in northern and eastern Europe, Asia and the United States. It said separately its EQT VI fund would continue to develop Anticimex, with operations in the Nordic countries, Germany and the Netherlands, by boosting the products and services offered in Sweden and accelerating expansion abroad. Ratos bought its 85 percent stake in Anticimex from Nordic Capital in early 2006 in a deal that valued the company at 1.6 billion crowns. Anticimex has seen sales and profits rise every year since then, even in 2009 when Sweden's GDP fell sharply. The buoyancy of the Nordic private equity market was shown recently when Cinven and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners sold Ahlesell for 1.8 billion euros ($2.40 billion) to rival CVC. That was the largest private equity buyout in Europe this year. Backing up the transactions are the continuing strength of Nordic debt markets and buyers' belief in the outperformance of the region's economies versus the rest of Europe. Ratos said its share of the selling price, 1.53 billion crowns, could be augmented by an additional payment if Anticimex met earnings and cash flow goals for the current year. ($1 = 6.6353 Swedish crowns) ($1 = 0.7509 euros) (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter and Helen Massy-Beresford) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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