Unigestion announces exit from Micronics and makes a new investment in Cleanova to support future growth
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Unigestion, the asset manager focused on investing in private equity’s mid-market leaders, has agreed to sell its successful investment in Micronics Engineered Filtration Group (‘Micronics’) to Cleanova – a portfolio company owned by London-based private equity company PX3 Partners ('PX3').
The acquisition of Micronics by Cleanova will create one of the largest independent industrial filtration businesses in the world, with an enterprise value of USD 1.3bn. Cleanova and Micronics are highly complementary across markets, geographies, and products.
Cleanova, which is based in Ireland, is a leading global clean-tech manufacturer of consumable, mission-critical, and engineered industrial filtration systems. As such, it helps customers ensure the reliability and efficiency of their industrial processes while protecting the environment. Micronics, based in the USA, is a leading global clean-tech manufacturer of filter media, industrial filtration systems, and provider of a broad range of expert field services, delivering customised air and liquid filtration solutions to meet demanding requirements across a variety of industrial applications.
This transaction is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2025 and will generate attractive performance for investors in the Unigestion Secondary V Fund (USEC V), including a significant distribution – DPI being a key focus for Unigestion’s secondaries strategy. Unigestion originally invested in Micronics in 2022 through USEC V and this exit represents already the sixth GP-led exit in the last three years with a holding period below three years.
Given the ongoing attractive value creation potential of the combined business, as a clear emerging leader in its field, Unigestion has chosen to make a new investment in Cleanova from its sixth secondary vintage. This investment is the 16th transaction in the program, which currently has 35% of its target size committed. Unigestion’s secondaries strategy seeks to deliver an optimised balance of high multiples, high IRR and accelerated cash payback by investing in GP-leds and LP stakes.
Ralph Büchel, Global Head of Secondaries at Unigestion, said: “We are thrilled to be part of this transaction alongside PX3. It is another example of how the Unigestion Fusion strategy can generate consistent liquidity for our investors throughout the cycle as well as how our global platform can support our partners. Micronics is a business we backed in USEC V in 2022 through a continuation vehicle – thanks to our long relationship with Vance Street Capital. This transaction represents an impressive exit outcome that reinforces the Fund’s status as one of the best-performing secondary funds of its vintage[1].
“Furthermore, we recently backed the team at PX3 through our emerging manager strategy, and are now excited to have the opportunity to re-invest in the newly combined business alongside PX3.”
[1] Source: Preqin
ENDS
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