Funds advised by Apax Partners agree to acquire Safetykleen Europe

18th May 2017

Funds advised by Apax Partners have agreed to acquire Safetykleen Europe, the largest service provider of surface treatment and chemical application services, from Warburg Pincus.  

London, 18 May 2017. Funds advised by global private equity firm Apax Partners LLP (“Apax”) have agreed to acquire Safetykleen Europe from Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing. 

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q3 2017. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Safetykleen Europe is the largest service provider of surface treatment and chemical application services. Safetykleen Europe was established in 1973, is headquartered in London and operates in 14 countries, principally in Europe, as well as Brazil, China and Turkey.

Safetykleen Europe delivers customer efficient outsourcing solutions for a wide range of critical industrial processes, with an extensive range of parts cleaners, tailored chemical applications, regular scheduled services and spent chemical collections.

The company employs over 1,600 people and provides more than 700,000 services each year to over 100,000 parts cleaners across a broad spectrum of industries.

Philippe Mauguy, CEO of Safetykleen Europe, commented:  “I personally would like to thank Warburg Pincus, who has been a great partner for Safetykleen in building our growth platform. 

“We would like to welcome Apax, our new partner, with an impressive track record of working strategically with international growth businesses. Together with Apax, Safetykleen Europe will continue to grow with a focus on delivering efficient customer outsourcing solutions, addressing a wide range of surface treatment and chemical application services.” 

Frank Ehmer, Partner at Apax Partners, commented: “Safetykleen has a very strong reputation in parts cleaning and has seen significant growth over the past three years under the leadership of Philippe Mauguy. We see significant room for the business to develop further, leveraging its scale advantages in a market with substantial white space for full-service solutions. We have been following Safetykleen’s journey for several years and are delighted about the opportunity to work with management on the company’s next chapter of growth.” 

Daniel Zilberman, Head of Europe at Warburg Pincus, added: “We have worked closely with Philippe and his talented management team over the past several years to position the company for growth and wish the team and Apax great success going forward.”

Apax Partners was advised by Allen & Overy (legal counsel), PwC (accounting/tax/IT advisor), and L.E.K. Consulting (commercial advisor). Safetykleen Europe’s management were advised by Proskauer Rose (legal counsel). Warburg Pincus was advised by Goldman Sachs (financial advisor), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal counsel), Ernst & Young (accounting advisor), Deloitte (tax advisor), and Eden McCallum (commercial advisor).

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Apax Partners LLP
Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 30-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments in excess of $46 billion*. Funds advised by Apax Partners invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech and Telco, Services, Healthcare, and Consumer.  The Funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen industry leaders. In the Services sector the Apax Funds have completed 21 buyout investments since 2001, including route-based businesses such as Azelis, Rhiag, Garda World, Sulo and Ifco. For further information about Apax Partners, please visit www.apax.com.

*Funds raised since 1981, commitments converted from fund currency to USD at FX rates as at 31 March 2017.

About Safetykleen Europe
Established in 1973, Safetykleen Europe is the market leader in surface treatment and chemical application services – providing industrial component, part and tool cleaning equipment, tailored chemicals, with regular scheduled services and spent chemical collections. 

Safetykleen Europe provides customer efficient outsourcing solutions to address a wide range of critical manufacturing and maintenance, repair and overhaul processes across Metalworking, Transportation and Manufacturing sectors. 

With a network of 92 service locations operating across 14 countries throughout Europe, Turkey, Brazil and China, Safetykleen Europe delivers a unique full service proposition, combining a culture of innovation to deliver Productivity, Quality and Compliance to our customers. 

About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $44 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 140 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 16 private equity funds which have invested more than $60 billion in over 780 companies in more than 40 countries. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com. 

Media Contacts

Apax Partners LLP – Global media enquiries

Greenbrook Communications
Georgiana Brunner, Matthew Goodman, Annabel Clay
Tel. +44 20 7952 2000
Email: apax@greenbrookpr.com

Apax Partners LLP – NorAM and LatAM media enquiries

Kekst and Company
Todd Fogarty
Tel: +1 212 521 4854
Email: todd-fogarty@kekst.com

Safetykleen

Tim Canfield
Tel: +44 20 3814 8800
Email: tim.canfield@safetykleen.eu

Warburg Pincus

Sarah Gestetner
Tel: +44 20 7306 0377
Email: sarah.gestetner@warburgpincus.com