The PHI fund, owner of Lladró, buys PPC Insulators, world leader in ceramic insulators
- The Austrian company was owned by the European Triton Partners fund
- The firm acquired the German Lapp Insulators, from the same sector, last summer
The PHI Industrial fund, owner of the porcelain firm Lladró, has taken another step in its international growth with the purchase of 100% of PPC Insulators, world leader in ceramic insulators for the energy infrastructure industry, so far owned by the European Triton Partners fund. The firm has had EY and Tribeca Abogados as advisors to the operation. Although the amount has not been revealed, according to the Economist, it is a significant investment for the fund, whose equity (capital) tickets per operation amount to up to 15 million euros.
With an annual turnover of more than 65 million euros and based in Vienna (Austria), PPC Insulators has more than 800 employees and production plants in Germany, Brazil and Slovakia, along with commercial branches in the US. USA and China. As Alexander Wit, Managing Director and Founding Partner of PHI to elEconomista, “the group is one of the world suppliers of porcelain insulators, the result of a split by Seves Group, owned by Triton Partners since 2014.” Its products are used in substations, the railway electrification network, high voltage transmission lines and power plants.
Investments in Spain
PHI acknowledges having identified in PPC a very interesting investment opportunity to generate value in an attractive sector. According to Wit, growing electrification requires sustainable solutions, such as ceramic insulators. “We believe that the products and solutions offered by PPC will face the challenges of this transformation,” he adds. “PPC Insulators has undergone an important transformation under the ownership of Seves and Triton. Now, as part of PHI Industrial, it will continue to strengthen its position as a world leader in the ceramic insulator space.”
With offices in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, PHI is one of the industrial venture capital funds that has grown the most in recent years with an innovative and entrepreneurial business model, focused on companies in special situations and divestments of large multinationals. For PHI, the purchase of PPC Insulators is the third transaction of its third fund of 80 million euros, which invests throughout Europe.
PHI is one of the reference managers in the special situations industry in Spain. In the last 15 years it has completed 26 acquisitions and currently has seven investees in the portfolio, three of them in our country: Lladró, BlueSun (home cleaning) and the Catalan Adisa Cooking (industrial kitchens for catering and hospitality). This year the fund has successfully sold the Spanish Hitecsa, specialized in industrial heating systems, to Baxi, the air conditioning company of the BDR Thermea group.
