Kaye Scholer Advises Bregal Capital on MBO of Ideal Stelrad

LONDON: Kaye Scholer client Bregal Capital, a leading European private equity firm, has completed the management buy-out of the UK-based manufacturer of boilers and radiators for approximately £230 million. Completion of the transaction had been conditional on merger clearance.

Headquartered in Newcastle, England, Ideal Stelrad employs roughly 1,800 people in the UK and at its international operations in countries including the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey. Following a financial restructuring of the business that resulted in a debt for equity swap in 2009, lenders such as RBS, BNP Paribas and Bank of Ireland became the main shareholders. Other shareholders included Warburg Pincus, HSBC, National Australia Bank, and GSO, a division of Blackstone.

The Kaye Scholer team was led by London corporate and private equity partners, Andrew Harris and David Gerber, and included fellow corporate partner Stuart Fleet, Frankfurt partner Sebastian Jungermann, and assisted by Sherry Scrivens and Amy Utley.

The Kaye Scholer team in London has a well established relationship with Bregal Capital. Recent matters on which Kaye Scholer has advised Bregal include the sale of Bregal’s Mirror Controls International (MCi), which deal was named by Buyouts as “European Deal of the Year 2012”.

Andrew Harris commented : “We are delighted to have represented Bregal on its investment in Ideal Stelrad, continuing our deep and longstanding relationship with them.  The transaction reflects Kaye Scholer London’s sustained growth and success in one of our core areas - cross-border European private equity and M&A.”

Kaye Scholer’s Corporate Department combines a full-service transactional practice with proactive, strategic business counseling. Both public and private US, European, Canadian and other international clients turn to us for focused senior-level attention on their most important matters, particularly when it comes to private equity, complex M&A and life sciences transactions. Recently ranked by US News & World Report for its premier Private Equity Practice, the group regularly works with more than 40 US and international private equity firms and their portfolio companies, including American Securities, Bregal Capital, Compass Partners, Halifax Capital Partners, Med Opportunity Partners, Onex Corporation, and Uni-World Capital, among others.