Pitch Best Deal Mid-Cap 2020: SAUR – Nijhuis Industries
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Name of the deal: SAUR acquires Nijhuis Industries
Date: 18 June 2020
Published value: € 100 – 250 million
Buyer(s): SAUR
Target: Nijhuis Industries
Seller: Wega Invest
M&A Database: View more details of the deal
Involved firms and advisors sell side:
CASE Corporate Finance (M&A Advisory), ABN AMRO (M&A Advisory), EY (Financial Due Diligence), Orrick Rambaud Martel (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A), Heusen (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A), BCG (Commercial)
Involved firms and advisors buy side:
Baker McKenzie (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A), Wega Invest (PE Management)
Pitch
Brief description deal / Deal outline
SAUR, a French company specialized in water management and leisure management, has acquired Nijhuis Industries, a Dutch advanced industrial water and wastewater treatment solutions company. Nijhuis Industries will bring Saur’s Industrial Water activities to a step-change level with total annual revenues of about €200m, technological edge and global presence. SAUR acquired the company from Wega Invest, a Dutch investment vehicle owned by Wagram Equity partners and Egeria.
The acquisition of Nijhuis Industries is the ideal link to integrate previous acquisitions and build a platform of diversified technologies as well as strengthening its international presence.
Why should this deal win the Award for Best Deal 2020?
This deal is a high profile transaction in the Dutch industrial space, supporting SAUR’s ambitions to strengthen their international presence in the industrial water industry. It is a strong strategic fit with the earlier acquisitions of Econvert en Ecor.
It is a showcase of a successful Dutch company active in a very Dutch industry segment but with a global presence that is going to serve as the growth platform within a larger group.
The largest part of the transaction was executed and completed during the challenging lockdown period in Q1 and Q2.
Deal rationale
As part of SAUR’s Initiative 2023, it has strong ambitions in Industrial Water, targeting to become one of the major European players. After two small-sized acquisitions, the acquisition of Nijhuis represents a transforming milestone in the development of a strong Industrial Water platform within SAUR.
(In April 2020 SAUR acquired a majority stake in the Dutch industrial water companies Econvert and Ecor. Econvert's business activities consist of providing solutions for the sustainable treatment of industrial effluent. The Ecor part of the Econvert group is in the business of leasing and selling mobile anaerobic technology and biogas treatment technology used in wastewater treatment to its customers).
Solid synergies are expected from the pooling of complementary technologies, client portfolios and geographical presences, while integration process will preserve entrepreneurial spirit and agility of the combined Industrial Water platform. In addition, the Group’s support will allow the combined Industrial Water platform to provide large long-term operation & maintenance (O&M) services, additional rental capabilities as well as financing solutions for its global industrial customers.
What is the impact of this deal for the company?
Nijhuis Industries will bring SAUR’s Industrial Water activities to a step-change level with total annual revenues of about €200m, technological edge and global presence.
This acquisition is a major step into the transformation of SAUR towards a more international group, with a strengthened technological, innovative and digital differentiation and a stronger growth profile thanks to a leading position in the higher growth Industrial Water business.
Under the leadership of Nijhuis’ current CEO and CFO, the new platform resulting from the combination of Nijhuis Industries with SAUR industrial businesses, namely SAUR Industries, Unidro and Econvert, will become a leading player in Industrial Water with a complete range of technologies and capacity to serve its customers worldwide, with combined annual revenues of about €200m today and the plan to exceed €300m by 2022.
Nijhuis’ unique consultative approach and cutting-edge proprietary technologies, allowing efficient and sustainable water treatment and smart process monitoring and control, will strengthen SAUR’s existing offering in the French municipal and industrial water market, while its international presence, with Sales & Services Centres in the Netherlands, the UK, Poland, Germany, Russia, the UAE, KSA, Singapore, Chile, Mexico and the USA, will represent a strong basis for an accelerated development of Saur in the international markets and a true cornerstone investment in SAUR’s growth strategy.
What is the impact of this deal for the direct stakeholders?
Patrick Blethon, Executive Chairman of Saur: “This acquisition is a key transforming milestone in the rollout of our strategy, as it decisively places SAUR among the reference players on the global Industrial Water market. We will build up on the strong complementarities between Nijhuis Industries and the existing SAUR Industry businesses, including Unidro and Econvert, to further expand our industrial footprint, and efficiently serve our industrial customers with increasingly innovative solutions, while defending water resources.”
Menno Holterman, CEO of Nijhuis Industries and future head of SAUR Industrial Water: “Today marks a new step in Nijhuis’ long history of excellence and successful development. By partnering with Saur, we are renewing our technological edge for the coming years, ensuring our employees, clients and business partners with our reaffirmed commitment to strongly develop sustainable water use through innovation delivering solid and adaptive solutions for a sustainable and resilient future.”
What is the impact of this deal on society?
Fresh water is becoming more scarce quickly and a responsible approach towards industrial applications where fresh water is vital for many industries such as food, pharma, cosmetics, etc. are under more stringent regulations. This trend will result in more focus on and installations of technologically advanced machinery and equipment that can clean the waste water and eventually provide for circular water cycle management.
A combination of SAUR and Nijhuis will be able to benefit from economies of scale, larger budgets for R&D and hence more impactful applications of industrial waste water solutions.
What was most complex about this deal?
Complexities and challenges arising from the cross-border deal situation, together with the lockdown measures across the countries where people from the deal teams were located: France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Lockdowns across the world were also impacting current trading, resulting in creative and constructive negotiations around purchase price, risk allocation and visibility of the business.
Signing took place when lockdowns were lifted to a certain extent and both sides could meet in Amsterdam to finalize documentation, sign and celebrate the successful outcome.
