PAI Partners Weighs Sale of Apleona Group for €4Bn

PAI Partners is exploring a sale of Apleona Group GmbH that could value the German facilities manager at about €4bn ($4.3bn), people with knowledge of the matter said.

The private equity firm is speaking with potential advisers as it prepares to gauge buyer interest in Apleona, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Deliberations are in the early stages and there’s no certainty PAI will decide to pursue a sale of the business, they said. A representative for PAI declined to comment.

Apleona, which provides facility-management services to the commercial, industrial and public sectors, was formerly part of the German industrial conglomerate Bilfinger SE. PAI agreed to buy Apleona from Swedish investment firm EQT AB for about €1.6bn in 2020.

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Headquartered in Neu-Isenburg, Germany, Apleona provides technical facility management services, complemented by infrastructural and commercial facility management as part of an integrated offering. EQT acquired the Company in 2016 through a carve-out from Bilfinger SE, a listed German industrial services conglomerate.

Under EQT ownership Apleona has been transformed into a pure-play facility management provider with an unrivalled position in DACH, partly through the divestments of its cyclical, low margin construction segment in 2017 and its UK real estate advisory business GVA in 2018. This strategic shift was further accelerated by significant investments into a digitalized operating platform and commercial excellence, fully focused on providing high-value integrated facility management services to its core blue-chip customer base. Apleona’s focus has led to a steady above-market growth rate and numerous new key account wins since 2016.

Source: BNN Bloomberg

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