Mid-market private equity firm Next Capital has teamed up with a United States-based investment manager to take control of an Australian specialist engineering contractor.
Street Talk can reveal Next Capital and The Silverfern Group have agreed a deal to acquire Eptec, which is majority owned by ex-Babcock & Brown bankers Phil Green and Trevor Lowensohn’s investment firm Alceon.
It is understood Next and Silverfern made an unsolicited approach to Eptec and its shareholders, and secured its target after a round of bilateral talks and due diligence. The deal was finalised in recent days, sources said.
Next and Silverfern are expected to back Eptec’s existing management team, who were also significant shareholders under the Alceon ownership structure, and aim to ramp up growth from organic initiatives and bolt-on M&A.
Sources said the strategy was to capture opportunities around defence spending and critical infrastructure maintenance, as well as broadening the firm’s focus to new sectors and geographies…see full article.
