French firm buys ACE Refractories

French industrial minerals company Imerys today announced the acquisition of ACE Refractories from the country's largest private equity fund, ICICI Venture.

The company announced in the website of its refractory business arm Calderys that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire ACE Refractories, the largest player in the country's monolithic refractories.

Although Imerys did not disclose the size of the deal, sources in the know said Imerys would acquire 99 per cent stake in ACE for an enterprise value of $136 million (Rs 546 crore).

UBS, who advised the three among top four deals of the year and has 54 per cent share in the M&A advisory space, was the financial adviser to ICICI Venture on this transaction.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by this month.

This deal gives excellent return to ICICI Ventures, a subsidiary of ICICI Bank. In the first buyout in the country's manufacturing space two years ago, ICICI Venture had bought the refractory division of ACC for Rs 257 crore and later renamed it ACE. This was the first buyout by a domestic private equity fund in the manufacturing space.

ICICI Venture is one of the largest and most successful private equity firms in India with funds under management in excess of $2 billion.