Sun Hydraulics acquires quick coupling leader Faster Group

Sun Hydraulics Corp. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the shares of Faster Group from Capvis Equity IV LP, a fund advised by the Swiss private equity firm Capvis Equity Partners AG, and other co-investors for €430 million (approximately $531 million) in cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018 and is subject to typical closing conditions.

Faster, a global manufacturer of quick-release hydraulic coupling solutions, is in innovative company, which holds more than 80 registered patents and continues to add new patents annually via strong R&D focus, said Wolfgang Dangel, Sun Hydraulics’ President and Chief Executive Officer. Its primary markets include agriculture, construction equipment and general industrial applications. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Faster has manufacturing operations co-located with its headquarters as well as in Toledo and Pune, India. Additionally, the company has sales offices in Shanghai, São Paulo, and Langenfeld, Germany.

“Faster has probably the broadest range of couplings in the industry. They range from 1/2 to 2 in. in size,” Dangel said during an investor webcast.

The acquisition is expected to broaden Sun’s product offering and geographic reach. It will also strengthen the company’s end market position, particularly in the agriculture sector, Dangel said. He also noted that it gives Sun a manufacturing footprint in Europe.

Dangel said the acquisition will help Sun reach its goal of $1 billion by 2025. “The acquisition of Faster is in alignment with our Vision 2025, advancing SNHY as a global technology leader in the industrial goods sector while maintaining superior profitability and financial strength,” he said. “Faster further diversifies SNHY more deeply into the growing global agriculture market. The business also broadens our global footprint, advancing our ‘in the region, for the region’ initiative.”

He added, “We welcome Faster’s 475+ global employees into the SNHY family. We see a tremendous amount of synergy with both our Hydraulics and Electronics segments, including opportunities to introduce our respective products to each other’s customer bases as well as leveraging technologies and expanding utilization of existing manufacturing capacity.”

Eric Trueeb, Partner, Capvis Equity Partners AG, noted, “Capvis and the Faster management team view SNHY as the perfect candidate to acquire Faster. Given their stated Vision 2025, we believe that Faster’s continued growth and success will be enhanced under SNHY’s ownership.”

Faster recorded 2017 sales of €105 million (approximately $130 million) and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.5%. In 2018, the company anticipates revenue growth of 16-16.5% with an EBITDA margin in the same range as 2017. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to SNHY’s GAAP earnings in 2018 and beyond.

Dangel said that Sun expects Faster to generate approximately $150 million in revenue in 2018. “Faster Group also enhances the superior profibility that we have as a group,” Dangel said. “They have been historically been recording similar or slightly higher profibility than Sun’s core business.”

Sun Hydraulics
www.sunhydraulics.com