BC PARTNERS takes majority stake in CERAMTEC

Private equity sponsor Cinven has entered into a definitive agreement to divest CeramTec, a leading German manufacturer of high-performance ceramics, to a bidding consortium led by BC Partners. The acquiring consortium also features significant equity participation from the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. The realization perfectly encapsulates the culmination of a highly successful holding period characterized by robust value creation and corporate transformation under Cinven's ownership. Throughout its tenure, the sponsor executed a comprehensive operational restructuring, streamlining the corporate framework from sixteen disparate business units into two core, hyper-focused segments: Medical and Industrial. In partnership with a newly appointed management board, including CEO Henri Steinmetz, Cinven drove aggressive organic momentum by deploying significant capital to expand manufacturing capabilities—notably through a major investment in the Marktredwitz medical plant—and targeting international expansion across the US and China. This organic trajectory was coupled with a highly accretive buy-and-build strategy. Throughout the competitive auction process, the sell-side was exclusively advised by investment banks Morgan Stanley and BAML. The transaction's closing remains strictly subject to customary regulatory clearances and is anticipated to finalize in the first half of 2018.

It is worth noting that the fund Cinven took control of Ceramtec through an LBO in 2013.