Portfolio

Investment Overview

3i completed the €24m EV Buyout of Novotema in July 2003, backing a strong management team to grow the business organically and through selective acquisitions.

We have supported Novotema with two major initiatives since our initial investment. In January 2007 we backed the acquisition of 100% of Fabel Gom, a key local competitor, which allowed for significant synergies around production and distribution.

This was followed in October 2007 with the creation of a Joint Venture with Sundaram Industries, a member of the TVS Group, India’s leading supplier of automotive components. The JV was created to support the manufacturing and distribution of a range of specialty elastomer parts for sealing applications in India and allowed Novotema to combine the benefits of its advanced technological expertise with the local presence and operational knowledge of Sundaram in order to meet the requirements of the Indian market. This is a market which is still growing extremely quickly and is building very high expectations in terms of quality of products, delivery and costs.

After the 2009 downturn which affected Novotema's reference markets, the company has returned to growth in 2010 and it is performing well within its key European markets of Germany and Italy and through its Indian JV. The management team, with the support of 3i, continue to focus on profitable organic growth.