Elevator parts firm Wittur attracts buyout interest - sources

By Arno Schuetze, Christoph Steitz and Dasha Afanasieva

FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - German elevator parts maker Wittur has attracted interest from private equity groups Partners Group and Cinven ahead of an expected sale by owner Bain Capital, several people close to the matter said.

Elevators have become a lucrative niche within the capital goods sector, yielding double digit profit margins as demand for high-rises and state-of-the-art elevator technology continues to grow.

Bain Capital, which bought the firm from Triton and Capvis for 600 million euros ($692 million) in 2014, has sent out information memorandums on the company, asking for first-round bids by early November, the people said.

Other private equity firms that may hand in offers include Advent and BC Partners and bids are likely to be pitched at more than 1 billion euros, the sources said.

Bain could still opt for a 2019 stock market flotation of Wittur instead, they added.

Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are helping the private equity group with the divestiture process, the sources said.

Bain, the banks and the private equity firms all declined to comment.

Wittur is expected to post adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 120 million euros this year and could be valued at 9-10 times that, the people said.

The group's adjusted EBITDA stood at 107 million euros last year, an increase of 9.1 percent. Its adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 13.7 percent.

Wittur counts some of the world's largest elevator makers among its clients, including Finland's Kone, Switzerland's Schindler, Germany's Thyssenkrupp and United Technology Corp's Otis.

Kone and Schindler, which just manufacture elevators, are trading at EV/EBITDA multiples of 12.9 and 13.6.

Founded in 1968, Wittur's products include lift machines, elevator doors, hydraulic devices, safety components, gearless drives and slings. It makes more than half of its sales in Europe and more than a third in Asia.

($1 = 0.8674 euros)

(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)