IBP

www.ibpgroup.com

Transaction Type: Turnaround Finance
Status: Partial Exit
Sector: Manufacturing
Investment Date: March 2006
Deal Size: £12 million*
Disposal Date: September 2006

Endless Contact: Aidan Robson

*IBP and Europower combined

BACKGROUND

IBP is a market leading manufacturer and distributor of copper and plastic plumbing fittings.  IBP has annual revenues of £93 million and distributes its products to customers in the retail and building sectors worldwide.

IBP operates manufacturing facilities in the UK, Spain, Germany and Poland, also having sales offices in these countries as well as in France and Portugal. Alongside Europower, another of our portfolio companies, IBP was a part of AFC plc, a listed engineering group which went into administrative receivership in March 2005.

IBP was established in the 1940’s and employs 850 people across Europe.  The Company has built a first class reputation for innovation and providing high quality products.  IBP’s patented Conex fittings are the world’s leading compression plumbing fittings and its Cuprofit range of push-fit fittings are unique in the market.

INVESTMENT COMMENTARY

We acquired IBP alongside Europower, following the administrative receivership of its parent company.  This insolvency required a speedy response in order to protect the value in the business and we were able to complete a deal within 10 days.

Like Europower, the business had been cash constrained for a number of years due to capital commitments and the ongoing cost of an operational restructuring.  Following our acquisition we provided working capital funding and we also carried out a number of refinancings across Europe in order to generate further funding for trading, capital investment and completion of the restructure.

Much has been done to restructure both Europower and IBP and in September 2006 we approached Sun Capital Partners with a view to co-investing in Europower and IBP in order to complete the turnaround of these businesses and fund future growth.

Sun Capital Partners are a US and European based private equity investor with over $4 billion funds under management.  Like Endless, Sun focus on creating value in turnaround situations.

In September 2006 we completed a part disposal of our shareholding in Europower and IBP to Sun who have brought substantial additional funding and expertise to the table.  We believe that with a significant part of the turnaround already complete and with the combined support of both Endless and Sun, IBP now has an excellent platform on which to build its market position and grow its business, particularly in untapped markets such as Eastern Europe and the Far East.

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