German gas- and electric-meter company Elster Group SE (ELT: Quote) has been put up for sale by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the WSJ report, CVC Capital has hired advisers for a sale of the company, which is expected to fetch more than $2 billion. Companies that could possibly evince interest in Elster include German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG (SI) and Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd. (ABB) as well as other private equity firms.
CVC Capital acquired Elster in 2005 from German utility E.ON AG (EONGY.PK) and took it public in New York in 2010. The private equity firm currently holds a 61.7 percent stake in Elster, which has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion.
Essen-based Elster employs more than 7500 people and operates in more than 39 countries. The company sells its products to utilities, distributors and industrial customers.
In early May, Elster reported a plunge in profit for the first quarter to $8.3 million or $0.29 per share from $23.9 million or $0.85 per share in the year-ago period. Revenues for the quarter edged up 0.6 percent from the year-ago period to $446.7 million. The company's order intake in the quarter was up 15.3 percent from last year to $589.0 million.
ELT closed Tuesday's trading at $15.49, up $1.69 or 12.25 percent on a volume of 657,170 shares.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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