LONDON and PARIS, May 15, 2017 – Advent International (“Advent”) has entered into exclusive negotiations today to acquire IPH, a European industrial supplies distributor, from PAI Partners.

IPH distributes industrial supplies for maintenance and production applications in Europe. It offers power transmission products, machining solutions, industrial supply solutions and product-related services. IPH serves a range of industries, including heavy industry, chemical and pharmaceutical, food-processing, energy, transport, automotive, petrochemicals, and mechanical engineering industries. In 2016, IPH generated revenues of €1.3 billion.

Advent, who took private Brammer Limited (“Brammer”) from the London Stock Exchange earlier this year, intends to combine IPH with Brammer, to create a leading European distributor of industrial supplies, with over €2.1 billion in revenues. The complementary geographic coverage, product knowledge and breadth of offering will further strengthen the value proposition for customers and suppliers.

The proposed transaction is subject to customary approvals, such as the completion of the consultation process with the workers’ councils, the signing of a definitive agreement and antitrust and regulatory clearance.