Crescent agrees $112m carve-out of Australia's Viridian Glass

The transaction will give Crescent control of the Viridian business along with its property in Victoria, according to a filing. CSR will retain the Viridian facility in New South Wales initially and lease it to Viridian, with a full sale of the property to follow completion of the Crescent transaction, which is expected to occur by the end of January.

Viridian’s business includes both float glass manufacturing and downstream glass processing operations, for clients including glass processors and fabricators, in addition to CSR’s building products business. The brand was created by CSR in 2008 after it acquired the glass businesses of Pilkington and DMS.

CSR began a strategic review of Viridian in July following years of losses by the business; according to the parent company’s most recent annual report, Viridian’s earnings before interest and tax for the year ended March 2017 came to A$3.5 million, down from A$7 million the year before. The decline was attributed to operational issues at the NSW factory and increased energy costs. Viridian posted a net loss of A$300,000 for the same period.

Crescent is investing its sixth Australia and New Zealand mid-market fund, which closed at A$800 million this year after less than three months in the market. The vehicle focuses on high-growth businesses, or industries that are undergoing structural change or likely to see consolidation, writing checks of up to A$50-90 million for companies with enterprise values of A$50-300 million.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Industrials
• Buyouts
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Crescent Capital Partners
• manufacturing