By Alexander Hübner and Emma-Victoria Farr
FRANKFURT/MUNICH (Reuters) -German energy firm Techem will remain in the hands of Partners Group after its sale to U.S. financial investor TPG fell through in May, Techem and Partners said on Monday, confirming an earlier report.
Partners Group will transfer its majority stake in the heating and water metering services company, valued at 6.7 billion euros ($7.81 billion), the same as in the failed TPG deal, to its own infrastructure fund, the company said.
This makes the deal for Techem, based in Eschborn near Frankfurt, the largest sale of a German company so far this year in terms of valuation, according to LSEG data.
Bloomberg News had reported on Partners Group’s plans for Techem earlier on Monday.
As part of the transaction, the consortium including Canadian co-investors La Caisse and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan that invested in Techem alongside Partners Group in 2018 will exit their stakes in the company.
TPG’s climate investment arm Rise Climate, Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, which TPG had brought on board as a co-investor for the initially planned takeover last October, will acquire minority shares, according to the Partners Group statement.
The transaction is set to close in the second half of this year subject to conditions and regulatory approvals, it added.
“For us, this means continuity,” Techem CEO Matthias Hartmann told Reuters, adding that nothing would change in terms of the company’s strategic direction following the deal.
According to the announcement, Techem’s EBITDA has grown by around 50% since its acquisition by the Partners Group-led consortium in 2018, and it now generates sales of more than one billion euros.
Techem’s sale to TPG and sovereign wealth fund GIC fell through in May, with the potential buyers withdrawing registration of the deal with EU antitrust authorities on May 7.
The European Commission had announced an in-depth review of the takeover, as TPG’s concessions were not deemed sufficient.
($1 = 0.8574 euros)
(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, Alexander Huebner and Oliver Hirt, Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Anousha Sakoui, Friederike Heine, Bernadette Baum and Joe Bavier)
