Tano Capital exits as Regal Beloit acquires ABG Group’s Italian arm Cemp

By Bhawna Gupta

  • 08 Jan 2014

Regal Beloit Corporation, one of the world's largest manufacturers of electric motors, has acquired Cemp srl, an Italy based electronic equipment manufacturer, for an undisclosed amount. This marks an exit for private equity firm Tano Capital which had backed ABG Group to buy Cemp a few years ago. 

ABG Group, which runs one of the country’s top shipbuilding firm ABG Shipyards, had teamed up with Tano Capital to create a new firm ABG Motors in 2007. This was formed as a special purpose vehicle to jointly acquire Cemp for $37 million. Tano Capital had invested $15 million for a large minority stake in the venture. 

Headquartered in Milan, Cemp is engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and marketing flameproof low voltage electric motors in Europe.

Its products are used in areas where safety against explosions and fires caused by gases, dust and liquids becomes critical such as in oil & gas, refinery, chemicals and mining. It has sales network in over 46 countries with a history of over 50 years.

o3 Capital acted as the sole financial advisor to the selling shareholders of Cemp. 

The transaction was completed a few weeks ago and marked the second exit by Tano in 2013. It had also exited from Virgo Valves and Controls Ltd, flagship arm of Pune-based Virgo Engineers, with a multi-bagger in another deal involving a strategic acquisition. Emerson acquired Virgo Valves in a deal pegged at over $400 million.  

Regal Beloit, with revenue of $3 billion and market cap of $3.3 billion, is a leading manufacturer of electric motors, mechanical and electrical motion controls and power generation products. It has over 60 manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Regal has acquired over 50 businesses over the past 30 years.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)