(Bloomberg) -- Private equity firm EQT AB is in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in French calibration company Trescal from Canadian pension fund Omers. 

EQT’s infrastructure arm is expected to close the proposed acquisition in the first quarter of next year, Omers Private Equity said in a statement Monday. The transaction is set to value Trescal at around €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) including debt, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Omers plans to reinvest for a 25% stake in Trescal, according to the statement, which didn’t disclose financial details.

Trescal, led by Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Caroit, calibrates measuring instruments for the aerospace, energy and automotive industries. Omers bought Trescal from French private equity firm Ardian SAS in 2018. 

The company has since doubled in size, completing 47 acquisitions and entering industries like life sciences and expanding into markets including South Korea and Australia. 

“We reinvested in Trescal because we see more opportunities for acquisitive and organic growth,” Jonathan Mussellwhite, head of Omers’ European private equity team, said in an interview. “It’s a fragmented market and we’re just starting to consolidate in countries such as China.”

The transaction is the latest example of infrastructure funds chasing deals offering steady returns outside their traditional playground of regulated assets like utilities, toll roads and telecom networks. The line between traditional private equity buyouts and infrastructure deals is becoming blurred, as infrastructure funds raise ever-larger pools of capital and banks prefer to lend to deals that are seen as less risky.

Bloomberg News reported in September that advisers were sounding out lenders on their willingness to provide debt financing for a potential sale of Trescal. 

Omers and Trescal worked with DC Advisory on the transaction. 

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