EMEA News
Wrist Group Being Broken Up For Sale
Denmark's Wrist Group is in the process of being broken up by its owners, Swedish private equity firm Altor Equity Partners (Altor), to help it sell off key companies OW Bunker and Wrist Ship Supply, according to reports in Danish media.
"Our plan is that we will sell the two parts separately because they appeal to different kinds of buyers," Søren Johansen, Partner at Altor, told Danish business daily Dagbladet Børsen.
"We are currently working on finalising the separation, which operationally has been in place for a while."
According to the Dagbladet Børsen report, only the regulatory approval of fragmentation remains.
Altor says it has already had "several inquiries" from potential buyers.
Ship & Bunker reported last month that anonymous sources said Altor had already hired financial services firm Morgan Stanley [NYSE:MS] to advise it on the sale, but at the time Altor and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the matter.
Altor has owned the Wrist Group and its subsidiaries since 2007 when it was bought by Altor's €1.15 billion ($1.5 billion) Altor Fund II investment vehicle.
Last week Wrist Group announced what it described as "robust" results for 2012 with a 19.6 percent increase in sales, while earnings before tax increased by 16 percent to $76 million.
