CVC takes majority stake in LINXENS
Context
CVC Capital Partners is acquiring Linxens. The acquisition entered exclusive negotiations in July 2015 after Linxens, a manufacturer of smart‑card connectors headquartered in France, was identified as a potential buy‑out target by its majority shareholder Astorg Partners. Linxens operates five production sites and three R&D centres in Europe and Asia, employing roughly 1,100 staff and supplying connectors for banking cards, SIM cards, transport tickets and health documents. The exclusive discussion follows a period of market speculation regarding a secondary buy‑out of the company. CVC’s interest centres on expanding its portfolio of technology‑enabled industrial businesses and leveraging Linxens’ position in the growing smart‑card ecosystem. The firm anticipates that the connector supplier’s established relationships with banks, telecom operators and public‑sector issuers provide a platform for scaling volume as contactless payments and digital identity solutions gain adoption worldwide. By integrating Linxens into its operational platform, CVC aims to drive cost efficiencies through shared procurement, enhance product development speed via cross‑company engineering resources, and pursue geographic expansion into North America and emerging Asian markets. Post‑closing, Linxens is expected to retain its current management team while receiving strategic guidance from CVC’s sector specialists. The combined entity plans to increase capacity at existing factories, invest in next‑generation antenna and contactless module technologies, and pursue add‑on acquisitions that complement its connector portfolio. These actions are projected to strengthen market share in the EMV and NFC segments, improve margin performance through economies of scale, and reinforce the supplier’s ability to meet evolving regulatory standards across multiple jurisdictions.
LINXENS, which reported an EBITDA margin of LOGIN in 2014, is valued in this transaction at an EV/EBITDA multiple of LOGIN, representing a LOGIN to the average currently observed in the Industry & Manufacturing sector (11.4x).
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Target
Linxens designs and manufactures electrical connectors specifically engineered for smart card applications. The product portfolio includes contact and contactless interfaces, antenna modules, and integrated solutions that enable data exchange and power delivery within payment cards, mobile SIMs, identity documents and health cards. Manufacturing is organized across five production facilities located in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Singapore, each equipped for high‑volume injection molding, metal stamping and precision assembly. Research and development is concentrated in three centres situated in France, Germany and Singapore, where engineers develop miniaturized connector architectures and certify compliance with EMV, ISO/IEC and other industry standards. The company sells primarily to original equipment manufacturers that embed the connectors into finished cards for banks, telecom operators, public‑transport authorities and governmental agencies. Revenue is generated through long‑term supply contracts, volume‑based pricing and occasional custom‑design projects that address emerging standards such as contactless payments and biometric identification. Linxens operates a global supply chain, sourcing raw materials from European and Asian vendors and delivering finished components to assembly lines worldwide. The business model emphasizes recurring demand from card‑issuers, high barriers to entry due to stringent certification requirements, and continuous product iteration to support new security protocols. Since its spin‑off from FCI in 2011, the firm has expanded its footprint to serve markets across Europe, North America, Asia‑Pacific and the Middle East.
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Historical Financials (EUR)
Other operations with LINXENS
| Date | Acquirer | Target | Country | Sector | Deal Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/2018 | TSINGHUA UNIGROUP | LINXENS | FRANCE | Industrial Equipment | Tsinghua Unigroup has agreed to acquire Linxens, a French supplier of micro‑connectors for smart‑card and payment‑card applications. The transaction, announced in July 2018, follows a month‑long negotiation period and is subject to clearance by French, German and European competition authorities |
REFERENCES
Valuation range: EV 1b - 4b EUR
Revenue range: 250M - 500M EUR
EBITDA range: 100M - 200M EUR
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Authors: verified mynth contributor (mynth data is contributed by M&A / PE professionals and systematically cross-verified with private deal documents and official press releases).
Press release: view release
Target: linxens
Acquirer: cvc