Please email ft@mergermarket.com or call EMEA: + 44 (0)20 7059 6105 Americas: +1 212 686-5277 Asia-Pacific: +852 2158 9730 for further information on mergermarket and how to receive more articles like the one below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yxlon International, the German supplier of industrial X-ray inspection systems and computed tomography solutions for the non-destructive testing of materials, is understood to have come on the block, several sources familiar with the situation have said.
Two separate sources said that German advisory firm Angermann M&A International was advising on the deal. A third source familiar with the situation said the EUR 60m turnover company could be at a relatively high valuation at this point, which an industry source pegged as being probably one times sales. Yxlon is owned by Andlinger & Company, which bought the business in January 2005 from InVision Technologies. Andlinger was not available for comment.
According to the industry source, Swiss technology group Comet AG, which operates in the material testing space with its unit Feinfocus, is the most likely buyer for Yxlon. The source said Yxlon and Comet would be a perfect fit and a tie-up would make sense economically from the outset. The source said Comet has strong incentives to buy Yxlon, since the company could run into trouble in terms of market position if a deal with Yxlon should lapse. “Comet will try hard to get it,” he said. The source added that since Comet had already talked with Yxlon last summer, it should be easier to conclude a deal expeditiously, and make a deal announcement by 2 April during Comet’s annual press conference. The source said Comet would probably plan to propose a capital increase to finance the acquisition of Yxlon. The source pointed to the Comet’s drop in share value last summer and concluded that now was an ideal time for an acquisition funded via a capital increase, since Comet shares jumped to roughly CHF 270 after trading at less than CHF 175 in August last year.
Comet’s chairman Berhard Hammer confirmed the company is looking for acquisitions, but refused to give further insight. The source mentioned US Varian (Varian Medical Systems) and French Thales as other possible bidders for Yxlon. However, he said he believed they did not have the same immediate synergies with Yxlon as Comet. He said he thought that a potential bid from one of these two competitors would be driven by a long-term strategy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mergermarket is an M&A intelligence tool focused on providing actionable, origination intelligence to its client base of the world’s principal advisory firms, investment banks, law firms, private equity firms and corporates. mergermarket provides clients with articles such as the one above in real-time via an online platform and personalized email, BlackBerry alerts and an online platform. For more information;
please email ft@mergermarket.com or call EMEA: + 44 (0)20 7059 6105 Americas: +1 212 686-5277 Asia-Pacific: +852 2158 9730
