Swedish private equity firm EQT is closing in on a deal to buy Bilfinger’s building and facilities division, which includes Bilfinger GVA.
It is expected that the circa €1.4bn (£1bn) sale will be rubber-stamped on Monday at a meeting of the company’s supervisory board and an announcement could be made as soon as next Wednesday.
However, any deal would need to have the support of the Mannheim-based company’s influential workers’ council, which has strong representation on the supervisory board and could yet resist a sale.
French facilities management firm ENGIE was the other party on a shortlist of two. JLL and Triton Partners had also initially been in the running.
Bilfinger’s 26% largest shareholder, the activist investor Cevian Capital, is also Swedish and has a close relationship with EQT in its homeland.
A sale to EQT would be a return to private equity ownership for GVA, which was sold to Bilfinger in 2014 when Lloyds Development Capital exited its 25.7% stake.
On 9 May, Bilfinger said it would complete the sale or retention of its building, facility services and real estate divisions within two to three weeks and announced a €100m annual savings plan.
Two days later, Bilfinger announced a net loss of €76m during the first quarter of the year, affected by a poor performance by its industrial segment, which was brought about in part by the collapse in the price of oil.
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