LBO Investments

Fives Lille

The company

Fives-Lille is an industrial engineering group with major interests in America, Europe and Asia. Fives-Lille designs and manufactures capital goods mainly destined for the automobile, aluminium, steel, cement and glass industries as well as the sugar and energy industries.

History

The Fives-Lille group traces its roots back to the first half of the 19th century: the origins of Société des Anciens Etablissements Cail go back to 1812, and Compagnie de Fives-Lille pour Constructions Mécaniques et Entreprises to 1861, which is the year the previous company Parent Schaken, Caillet & Cie was founded. The history of the two companies is tied up with a number of remarkable feats, often linked to major economic and industrial events in France: the first steam locomotives, lifts for the Eiffel Tower, participation in the construction of the Alexandre III bridge, metal framework for the Gare d'Orsay in Paris. 
After a long history of international development, acquisitions and strategic re-alignments, Compagnie de Fives-Lille left BNP Paribas in 2001 following an IPO and entered the portfolio of Industri Kapital following a first LBO.
In 2004, a second LBO was carried out by AXA Private Equity and Barclays Private Equity in the course of which they acquired Fives-Lille from Industri Kapital.

Strategy

Fives-Lille provides a full range of products from one-off plant through to whole production lines, workshops or factories on a turnkey basis. The group is able to provide a customised micro or macro-project solution to all of its customers.
Its success factors are scrupulous compliance with performance standards and deadlines, the capability to work on a simultaneous engineering basis with the customer’s own teams and a capacity for innovation.
Having now re-centred on high added value services, the group sets out to accompany its customers in their development projects using its own field staff trained to work with the customer’s own people.
In December 2005 the group completed the acquisition of Landis (USA and UK) in the automobile sector (machine tools), number 1 in its branch. Revenue for Landis in 2005 was €155m.

Divestment

In August 2006, AXA Private Equity and Barclays Private Equity sold off the group Fives-Lille to Charterhouse in association with the management team.