PHI completes the divestment of Hitecsa to Baxi
- Hitecsa was acquired by PHI in 2012 and exits the portfolio after 9 years.
- The company has undergone a successful restructuring and growth process during this period of time.
- Baxi will integrate the company’s 165 employees and expand the company in the R&D area to further grow the company.
Barcelona, December 2021
PHI Industrial sells 100% of Hitecsa – a company dedicated to the design, manufacture and supply of commercial and industrial air-conditioning systems in Spain – to Baxi, a leading company in air conditioning systems in Spain and Portugal belonging to the BDR Thermea Group. Hitecsa is a major player in air-conditioning and refrigeration for commercial and industrial applications, such as hotels, airports, hospitals and retail, among others. Hitecsa is also known for its Adisa brand, which specialises in high-efficiency boilers and heating solutions. The closing of the acquisition was subject to the authorisation of the Competition Regulatory Authorities, which was obtained in October 2021, with the final closing of the transaction in November 2021.
Hitecsa, which originated in the 1960s, has its headquarters in Vilanova i la Geltrú and R&D and production centres in Vilanova i la Geltrú and Vilafranca del Penedés (Barcelona). Before the pandemic, in 2019, Hitecsa and Adisa together had a turnover of 26 million euros. According to Jordi Mestres, CEO of Baxi for the Iberian Peninsula, comments “the incorporation of Hitecsa completes our portfolio in Spain and Portugal, allowing us to offer our customers a complete range of HVAC products for any type of application. We will maintain Hitecsa’s focus on the Spanish commercial market and will help us to expand our residential HVAC business”.
PHI Industrial, a Spanish investment fund of recognised prestige and experience, acquired the company in 2012 with 109 workers and in a difficult financial and operational situation. After nine years of intense operational, commercial, product development and innovation work, the company, with a total of 165 employees at present, has consolidated two production centres of the highest industrial level; it has diversified its product range and has internationalised its commercial activities, once again becoming a leader in its sector.
According to Alexander Wit and Jordi Bricio, owners of Phi Industrial “we are very satisfied with this particular transaction because the company has once again become a leader in the HVAC sector, something difficult to think of a few years ago. We are particularly proud to have participated with the management team in the turnaround, consolidation and leadership of a company like Hitecsa and it is for us a good example of the way Phi Industrial works. Finally, we leave the company in the good hands of a leading company, expert in the sector and which projects an extraordinary future for Hitecsa, thus closing the circle of value creation that we had hoped for”.
With the acquisition, BAXI will integrate the 165 employees of the selling group and expand the workforce in the R&D area, which it intends to boost significantly.
About Phi
About PHI Industrial: PHI is a group specializing in the acquisition and active management of companies in special situations, including spin-offs of multinationals. PHI invests in companies where it detects the capacity to generate value through improved operations. Based in Spain and Italy, PHI Industrial is interested in acquiring majority stakes in European and mid-sized companies. PHI has completed 26 acquisitions in the last decade and is one of the most active funds domestically.
Alexander Wit, founding partner, says: “We offer expertise, transaction security and long-term commitment to the companies we acquire”.
About Baxi
In Spain and Portugal, Baxi has more than 1,100 employees and a turnover of 227 million euros, including the entire Official Technical Service network linked to the brand (year 2019). It has three corporate headquarters in Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon. Baxi is a brand with more than 150 years of history that in 2005 acquired the heating division of Roca, a pioneering company in the introduction of heating in Spain in 1917, thus becoming the benchmark company in the sector on the Iberian Peninsula.
