Electra Private Equity to sell audio console manufacturing business

(ShareCast News) - Epiris, the portfolio manager of buyout fund Electra Private Equity, is to sell its Audiotonix business, which manufactures audio mixing consoles, to European private equity firm Astorg. From the sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, Electra will receive £203m, an uplift of £62m, or 44%, and equivalent to an increase in its net asset value of 133p per share from the value of the investment at the end of last September.This equates to a return of 4.8 times the original cost and an initial rate of return of 51%, assuming the sale will be completed by the end of March.Epiris initially invested £42m on behalf of Electra when it bought Allen & Heath, a maker of audio mixing consoles, in 2013. This was followed by the acquisition of Calrec, another audio manufacturer, in March 2014 and a merger with DiGiCo, also another console manufacturer, in August of that year to form Audiotonix.The company said that Epiris had identified Calrec and DiGiCo as add-on opportunities before investing in Allen & Heath.Charles Elkington, a partner at Epiris, said: "Through structured investment across three valuable brands we have created a global market leader with strong growth prospects. When we made the initial investment we had a clear strategy based on mergers and acquisitions, operational improvement and strategic focus."We have delivered this with two add-on acquisitions, a reorganised supply chain, and successful investment in sales and marketing as well as new product development. As a result the business has more than quadrupled earnings since 2013.Audiotonix chief executive James Gordon added: "Epiris have been an extremely supportive and engaged partner. Their vision and leadership in combining the three businesses and subsequent contribution to the evolution of the group has been invaluable. We now have a solid foundation from which to push into the next stage of our development."