Navis agrees $220m sale of engineering business Trio

Navis acquired a 63% stake in Trio in August 2009, according to AVCJ Research. The PE spent the five-year holding period focusing on a expanding the company's market by moving into new geographies and verticals, as well as driving the marketing and branding efforts. Trio has seen its EBITDA increase almost three-fold, with 20% compound annual revenue growth.

Founded in 1998, the company designs and builds a range of crushers, screens, feeders and washers for the aggregates and minerals markets. It has two manufacturing plants in Shanghai as well as facilities in the US.

Last year, 31% of its revenues were generated in North America, primarily in the aggregates sector; 25% came from China, mainly serving the domestic mining industry; and the balance was spread across Australia, South America, Africa and Europe. In 2014, Trio is expected to generate revenues of about $120 million.

"Trio was our first stand-alone investment in China, and the acquisition was subject to intense internal debate as it was made so soon after the onset of the global financial crisis," said Chow Yin Tan, a senior partner at Navis, in a statement.

He added that Navis had the advantage of already being invested in a similar business in Southeast Asia - Malaysia-headquartered Linatex Process Rubber, which also supplies the mining, sand and aggregates industries. The PE firm bought the company for $30.8 million in 2005 and sold it in 2010 for $200 million, netting a 5.5x money multiple. Weir was the buyer.

"Trio was an excellent investment for Navis and exiting to Weir continues both a long tradition of Navis selling its businesses to strategic trade buyers, and an emerging tradition to sell to Weir itself," said Nicholas Bloy, managing partner of Navis. "We have always believed that trade buyers make the best partners for our companies after our period of ownership, and this allows us to exit our investments cleanly, even amid periods of public market uncertainty."

Navis manages about $5 billion in equity capital and has completed over 60 control transactions since its establishment in 1998. Earlier this month, it acquired a majority stake in Modern Star, an Australian B2B distributor of education resources to early childhood centres and schools, for an undisclosed amount.

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• Topics
• North America
• Southeast Asia
• Industrials
• Exits
• Greater China
• Navis Management
• Malaysia
• USA
• Trade sale
• Commodities
• Exit
• China