(Bloomberg) -- The billionaire Brenninkmeijer clan is exploring a potential deal to take Novem Group SA private roughly three years after listing the German car-interior designer.
The family’s private equity arm Bregal Investments is considering making a public delisting acquisition offer to other shareholders, according to a statement late Wednesday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. No final decision has been made and a potential delisting will require approvals from Novem’s management board and supervisory board, the company said.
Bregal and other family vehicles already own a controlling stake in Novem, which makes premium trim elements used in dashboards and center consoles for automotive brands like Maserati and Porsche. The Brenninkmeijer family also owns European clothing retailer C&A.
Shares of Novem jumped as much as 14% in Thursday morning trading in Frankfurt, extending the previous day’s 11% gain. The stock is still down almost 60% since the company’s 2021 initial public offering, giving it a market value of about €288 million ($318 million). The firm is led by Chief Executive Officer Markus Wittmann, who replaced former Autoliv Inc. executive Günter Brenner last year.
There have been other recent cases of German companies’ controlling shareholders taking the firms private again following stock slumps. Buyout firm EQT AB agreed last year to acquire the shares it doesn’t already own in software developer SUSE SA, after an attempted sale to Thoma Bravo failed. Cinven agreed to buy out Synlab AG in September last year, two years after listing the German laboratory operator.
(Updates throughout with confirmation.)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.