VPS Acquisitions, a company owned by funds managed by TDR Capital LLP, announced the sale of VPS Holdings (“VPS”), the leading European vacant property specialist, to pre-eminent European private equity firm PAI Partners.
VPS is the leading European vacant property specialist providing security solutions, such as its proprietary suite of specialised vacant property alarms, motion triggered video / CCTV systems and security screens / doors, together with specialist property management services, such as facility services, manned guards and live-in guardian services.
Robert W. Baird (“Baird”), a leading, global middle-market investment bank, advised VPS Acquisitions on the deal. Jonathan Harrison, a Managing Director in Baird’s Global Investment Banking business and a lead banker on the deal commented that the deal further underscores private equity’s ongoing appetite and willingness to pay for high quality assets:
“VPS is a rare pan-European investment opportunity, with strong positions in fragmented, niche markets, a very good management team and multiple organic and M&A growth prospects. Given the company’s scarcity value and favorable debt market dynamics, VPS generated very strong interest from the private equity community.”
The VPS sale marks the fourth M&A deal involving a French entity for Baird in the last 6 months, including the recently announced sale of Ecova, Inc. to Cofely USA, an indirect subsidiary of the French multinational utility company GDF SUEZ, GOJO Industries investment in Laboratoires Prodene Klint, and the acquisition of Maxxam Analytics by Bureau Veritas. It is also one of several recent deals where Baird acted on behalf of its private equity clients, including:
• High Street Partners merger with Nair & Co;
• Competence Call Centers sale to Silverfleet Capital;
• Stream AS sale to MRC Global Inc.;
• Schülerhilfe sale to Deutsche Beteiligungs Ag; and
• Alexander Mann Solutions sale to New Mountain Capital.
With 250 investment banking professionals and offices in the United States, Europe and Asia, Baird leverages its truly global reach to its advisory work, having completed M&A deals in nearly 30 different countries.