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* Favorable financing conditions bolster deals
* More large-scale deals expected in Germany in 2013
* Sale of Ista, Scandlines, CeramTec launching shortly
By Arno Schuetze
FRANKFURT, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Buyout firms are putting araft of German assets on the block as recovering markets improvethe availability of bank financing and create the mostattractive exit prices for years.
Among companies looking for new owners are metering companyIsta, ferry group Scandlines, industrial ceramics group Ceramtecand logistics group Unifeeder.
"Everyone wants to invest in Germany and the Nordics, that'swhy 2012 has seen already seen record-breaking prices in M&Adeals," a Germany-based partner of a big U.S.-based privateequity group said, adding he expects the development to continuethis year.
In the absence of high-yielding investment opportunities,the euro zone's largest and most resilient economy is witnessinghigh interest for some of the names in private equityportfolios, bankers said.
Private equity managers - many of whom will gather at theannual SuperReturn conference in Berlin next week - need todivest assets to show they can make money for their investorsand raise new funds.
Some of the assets currently being put on the block werebought in boom times when capital and debt to financeacquisitions were easily available.
Bankers say that financing markets are now almost back topre-crisis levels.
Private equity managers acknowledged it was hard during thefinancial crisis to get a return on highly-leveraged dealsstruck during a time of easy finance and sometimes the assetswere at risk of default.
But that perception has started to change.
"What errors? Leverage was high in 2006/07 deals, but therehaven't been a lot of defaults," one private equity managersaid.
Turning to the present day, he acknowledged that while someparts of the market, such as bond-driven deals, were becomingover-heated, the same was not true of the market as a whole.
HIGHER VOLUMES
In Germany, bankers said they are expecting to see many morelarge deals this year and a level of medium-sized transactionsthat would be stable at least.
Among bigger deals are the sale of energy-metering firm Ista and ferry group Scandlines, with informationpackages due to be sent out in the next couple ofdays.
Charterhouse and CVC are expected to getup to 3 billion euros ($4 billion) for Ista, while 3i and Allianz Capital Partners could pull in up to 1.4billion for Scandlines.
Goldman Sachs and KKR are also preparing theflotation of fork lift truck maker Kion, which islikely to be valued at more than 2 billion euros and could takeplace after the summer break, sources close to the investorssaid.
In two transactions that have caught the attention of bigprivate equity investors, U.S.-based chemicals group Rockwood has put German assets Sachtleben and CeramTec on theblock, sources close to the deal said.
While large transactions are gaining pace, bankers continueto work on a flurry of medium-sized deals in Germany.
Montagu has hired UBS to explore options forinternet service provider Host Europe, and with the help ofHawkpoint is seeking bidders for logistics group Unifeeder, eachdeal potentially worth more than 400 million euros.
Star Capital also has two disposals of up to 200 millioneuros on its plate.
It is expecting final bids for manufacturer Blohm + Voss OilTools before Easter in a deal organised by Macquarie and willshortly send out information on retirement home operatorAlloheim, sources close to the transaction said.
Taros Capital has asked for bids for its car parts makerCarcoustics by mid-March. In the sale, which is being run byMacquarie, the investor is hoping to attract offers of around130 million euros, sources close to the deal said.
Private equity investor bluO has hired Rothschild to adviseon the sale of specialty chemicals group AlzChem, whilefamily-owned car parts groups Scherer&Trier and PV Automotivehave also hired banks for a strategic review which is likely toresult in a sale to private equity investors, sources familiarwith the situation said.
The private equity investors, banks and companies declinedto comment, except for Star Capital, Taros Capital, andScherer&Trier, which were not immediately available for comment.
