Alantra advised ii invest on the sale of BFC Fahrzeugteile to Triton

Jan 2018

Sell-side advisory

Alantra has advised Linz (Austria) based ii invest on the sale of its portfolio company BFC Fahrzeugteile GmbH, a leading manufacturer of metal-based clamping profiles for the automotive sealings industry, to private equity firm Triton. A combined team from Alantra’s Frankfurt and Vienna offices provided M&A advice to ii invest. The transaction was signed in December 2017 and closing of the transaction took place on February 1, 2018.

Alantra structured an auction process including financial and strategic buyers. Our teams supported ii invest and the Company from the preparation of all vendor documentation and coordination of a comprehensive due diligence process until final SPA negotiations. Headquartered in Bietigheim-Bissingen (near Stuttgart), BFC is the leading global provider of metal-based clamping profiles mainly applied in exterior sealings for automotive vehicles. The Company has unique proprietary machinery and tool manufacturing know-how and is regarded as the pioneer of the rotative cutting technology. With production sites in Germany (2x), the US, Turkey and China (2x), BFC supplies all major automotive sealing suppliers. In the last fiscal year 2017, BFC generated revenues of ~€44m.

“This transaction showcases the strength of our international team and our understanding of the structures and requirements to provide high quality, hands-on support to a typical German mid-market company in such a transaction”, says Ulrich Müller, Managing Director at Alantra’s German office.

Going forward, Triton will support the Company in its geographical expansion with a focus on China and the US, starting with the setup of a third production site in Chongqing, planned to be completed in 2018.

ii invest is a private investment firm specializing on investments in small and mid-cap companies in Austria and Germany. Since its foundation in 2003, ii invest closed more than 60 transactions in diverse industries, including Automotive, Industrial, Consumer Goods, IT, and Financial Services.

Triton is a leading European private equity investment firm with over €8bn in capital commitments from around 100 institutional investors, including top tier public and private pension funds, insurance companies, banks, family offices and asset managers. Triton invests in market-leading businesses headquartered in the DACH region as well as Northern European countries with an enterprise value size of €20m to €1bn. This transaction was executed by Triton’s dedicated mid-cap fund which was raised in 2017 and has a volume of € 350m.