In November 2020, funds advised by Agilitas Private Equity ("Agilitas"), a pan-European private equity firm, announced the signing of an agreement to back the buyout of TenCate Advanced Armour Holding B.V. and its subsidiaries (together the “Company” or “TenCate Advanced Armour”), a leading global manufacturer of lightweight survivability solutions, from Royal Ten Cate.
Duff & Phelps acted as the exclusive debt advisor to Agilitas in connection with the agreed acquisition of TenCate Advanced Armour. The debt financing will be provided by Barings.
Jacco Brouwer, Managing Director and Head of European Debt Advisory at Duff & Phelps, said: "We are delighted to have had the opportunity to assist Agilitas with the debt raising process for TenCate Advanced Armour and help them secure a competitive and flexible debt package. The debt raising process demonstrates that there remains strong financing appetite for businesses with robust credit metrics and a defensible market position, despite the current market uncertainty. We congratulate the Agilitas team on the deal signing.”
About TenCate Advanced Armour
TenCate Advanced Armour is a global provider of lightweight, mission-critical survivability and protection solutions for people working in hostile environments. Its portfolio of bespoke, highly engineered defensive products covers personal protection, as well as applications for land vehicles, aircraft, and naval vessels. Uniquely positioned as one of only two transatlantic and independent providers globally in the highly regulated survivability solutions industry, TenCate Advanced Armour is a key strategic partner to the world’s leading OEMs, militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world.
The Company has 300 employees and is one of the only vertically integrated armour solutions providers with the ability to develop, test and manufacture armour products in-house. It does so through its facilities in Denmark, France and the U.S., which also hold individual certifications and national security clearances that allow TenCate Advanced Armour to supply survivability systems to governments and OEMs.
The buyout of the Company is the latest example of Agilitas’s strategy of backing ambitious management teams of high-quality and defensive businesses, with opportunities for multi-dimensional business transformation and a strong alignment between shareholder value and fundamental positive purpose.
About Agilitas
Agilitas is a pan-European private equity firm which focuses on backing management teams of businesses that offer the opportunity to unlock remarkable levels of growth through business transformation. The firm invests only when positive societal purpose and shareholder value are fundamentally aligned. Agilitas focusses on companies with enterprise values of €50mn-€300mn in defensible niches within specific sectors, including Environmental Services and Technologies, TMT, Healthcare, and Aerospace. Agilitas has a patient, ethics-led approach to investing and a strong track-record of dramatically transforming and growing companies. The firm was founded in 2011 and the team brings a wealth of experience from a variety of backgrounds. The team is truly pan-European, consisting of individuals of many nationalities with international experience and multiple language capabilities.
