BC Partners Explores Options for $4 Billion Ceramics Firm

(Bloomberg) -- BC Partners has started exploring options for German technical-ceramics maker CeramTec GmbH after receiving approaches from rival private equity funds, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The buyout firm is in the early stages of studying possibilities, including a sale or initial public offering of CeramTec, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A deal could value the business at 3.5 billion euros ($4.1 billion) or more, they said.

CeramTec, based outside the southern German city of Stuttgart, makes ceramics used by orthopedic manufacturers in hip joint replacements. It also produces ceramic pipes, valves and bearings for industrial applications as well as materials used in metalworking, textile machinery and medical equipment.

Private equity firms' divestments in Europe have nearly tripled this year to $64.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. TDR Capital agreed this week to sell Modulaire Group, a designer of modular work spaces, to Brookfield Business Partners LP for about $5 billion.

No final decisions have been made, and there's no certainty the deliberations will lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for BC Partners couldn't immediately comment.

A consortium led by BC Partners agreed to acquire CeramTec from private equity firm Cinven in 2017. Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan also joined the deal. That acquisition valued CeramTec at about 2.6 billion euros including debt, Bloomberg News reported at the time.