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Candover exits Pandrol with sale to trade buyer

European buy-out firm Candover has announced the sale of specialist engineering business Pandrol to French firm Delachaux for £165m. The sale provides further, albeit sketchy, evidence that exit conditions are gently improving across Europe with the reappearance of trade buyers.

Pandrol, which designs and manufactures rail track fastening and support systems, had a turnover of £112m and an EBITDA of £15.2m in 2002. It has manufacturing plants in 11 countries and employs more than 660 people.

Candover acquired Pandrol from Charter plc alongside two other specialised engineering businesses for £194m. Nederman and Airtechnology were sold in 1999 and 2003 respectively, meaning the Pandrol sale completes Candover's exit from the acquisition.

The firm said it had generated an overall return of almost double its original investment.

Colin Buffin, managing director of Candover, said: ‘The investment in the specialised engineering businesses of Charter plc has been a successful deal for the Candover 1997 Fund, and we are pleased to have generated good returns for our investors.'

So far this year, Candover has also realised, either fully or in part, holdings in Camden Motors and Detica from its 1994 fund, Aitechnology, Bourne Leisure and Picard from the 1997 fund, and Kabel Deutschland from the 2001 fund.

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