Sika has made a binding offer to acquire Parex from its current owner CVC Fund V. Parex is a leading manufacturer of mortar solutions including facade mortars, tile adhesives, waterproofing, and technical mortars. In 2018 the company generated sales of CHF 1.2 billion and an expected EBITDA of around CHF 195 million. With its expertise in mortar solutions for renovation and new builds, Parex participates in all phases of the construction life cycle. Parex has a particularly strong presence in distribution channels, combining recognised brands with R&D expertise and technical excellence. It is locally present in 23 countries with key positions in 8 core geographies and operates 74 plants around the world.

Paul Schuler, CEO of Sika: “Parex is an excellent company with well recognised brands and an impressive performance track record. The businesses of Parex and Sika are highly complementary. Using Parex technologies as a growth platform in all our 101 countries and cross-selling of our products to the well established distribution channels of Parex will generate great profitable growth. Parex’s excellent facade business can be leveraged in the entire Sika world. We warmly welcome all employees of Parex to the Sika Family. We look forward to working with the Parex team and we are excited about expanding our joint business operations.”

Eric Bergé, CEO of Parex: “Under CVC Fund V’s ownership, the Parex team has delivered a very strong performance, growing sales from EUR 750 million in 2013 to over EUR 1 billion. Over this 5-year period, Parex entered 3 new countries and opened 16 new plants, added 11 bolt-on acquisitions, and built a new international R&D center. Sika represents a great platform to continue to deliver on Parex’s ambitious growth plan and the combination creates new exciting opportunities in terms of offering new solutions to our customers and continuing our geographic expansion. I would like to thank our sponsor, CVC Capital Partners, our teams across the world, and our customers for their trust and support in these past five years, and we look forward to working with Sika in the future.”

With this acquisition Sika will further strengthen its leading position in construction chemicals and industrial adhesives and will reach sales in excess of CHF 8 billion. It will deepen and widen Sika’s growth platform. Its mortar business, which is a key growth technology for the group and one of its important earning contributors, will more than double in size to CHF 2.3 billion. Parex’s strong position in distribution channels will open up new business opportunities for Sika’s product range. Parex will gain access to Sika’s well established direct sales channels and Parex’s expertise in the facade and tile setting business will allow Sika to participate in these growing and attractive market fields.

Financial Parameters

Annual synergies are expected to be in the range of CHF 80-100 million. Purchase price represents a 11.3x EV / pro forma EBITDA 19E multiple which will come down to less than 8.5x EV/EBITDA, including full run-rate synergies. The acquisition is value enhancing to Sika shareholders and is expected to be accretive to Sika’s earnings per share from the first full year post closing. The financing of the transaction is secured by a bridge loan facility committed by UBS and Citi. Sika remains committed to maintaining a strong investment grade credit rating and intends to put in place a long-term funding structure comprising a combination of cash-on-hand, bank loans, and capital market instruments.

The acquisition is implemented in various steps. The parties have signed an exclusive binding offer. The completion of the transaction is subject to French works council consultation process and regulatory approvals and is expected in Q2/Q3 2019.