PX3 Partners (“PX3”), the London headquartered private equity firm, announces today that it has agreed to acquire Cofimco S.r.l. (“Cofimco”, or the “Company”), a global, market leading provider of engineered air moving solutions used in demanding industrial cooling applications. PX3 will acquire Cofimco from publicly-listed, U.S.-headquartered Chart Industries Inc. (NYSE: GTLS). The transaction represents the second investment from PX3’s inaugural fund and draws on PX3’s transatlantic reach and global DNA, while leveraging the firm’s proven corporate carve-out skill set.
Headquartered in Italy, Cofimco is a leading designer, manufacturer, and seller of axial cooling fans and related services. Its specialised and bespoke products and services are distributed to a global and diversified customer base across more than 60 countries and support their industrial processes with mission critical heat-control solutions, ensuring that they can operate safely and continuously including by reducing thermal pollution. Cofimco’s products and services are deployed in demanding heat-generating processes in a wide range of end markets, including energy and power generation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), industrials, and LNG.
Cofimco is a trusted and globally recognised brand with proven, patented products and technologies. The Company benefits from a large installed base and a strong aftermarket sales model, with Chart Industries remaining a customer of Cofimco following the transaction. PX3’s investment in Cofimco aligns closely with the three pillars of its investment strategy. Through its customer centricity and energy efficient products, the Company benefits from two of the transformative themes that PX3 seeks to underwrite, namely Compete Smarter and Planet First. Furthermore, it operates in the branded light manufacturing and building tech segments of industrials, two of PX3’s areas of focus. Finally, Cofimco possesses the strong business fundamentals PX3 seeks to exclusively invest behind.
PX3 will employ its Connected AccelerationTM value creation model to separate Cofimco from its parent, establish it as an independent company, and pursue an ambitious growth strategy driven by further internationalisation, innovation, expansion into a broader set of applications, and add-on acquisitions. Cofimco will benefit from PX3’s global network of deep relationships and its expertise in helping businesses grow internationally across Europe, North America, and Asia.
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"Following our investment in Filtration, we are excited to announce the acquisition of Cofimco, a global market leader in engineered air moving and cooling solutions," said the Managing Partners of PX3. "We look forward to working with the Cofimco management team to grow the Company’s presence internationally and to accelerate its exposure to clean tech growth areas, including carbon capture and renewables. The acquisition perfectly aligns with our investment strategy, our situational differentiation, and our commitment to invest in high-quality businesses with passionate teams and significant transformational growth potential."
PX3 stands for purpose, passion, and performance. It is a pan-European private equity firm with headquarters in London. It invests behind transformative themes and targets companies operating within select segments of the business services, consumer and leisure, and industrials sectors with strong business fundamentals. PX3 is committed to supporting Cofimco and its management team to drive transformative growth internationally and operational improvement.
PX3 enlisted the support of Alvarez & Marsal as accounting and tax advisor; Aon as benefits, insurance, and pension advisor; Chiomenti as legal advisor; Debevoise & Plimpton as tax structuring advisor; KPMG as ESG advisor; LEK as commercial advisor; Marlborough Partners as debt advisor; and Lazard as financial advisor. PX3 is also advised by Aviditi Advisors as placement agent.
PX3 stands for purpose, passion, and performance. It is a pan-European private equity firm founded in 2021 by Petter Johnsson, Gianpiero Lenza, and Sébastien Mazella di Bosco with headquarters in London. It invests behind transformative themes and targets companies operating within select segments of the business services, consumer and leisure, and industrials sectors with strong business fundamentals. PX3 is committed to supporting ambitious entrepreneurs and management teams build great businesses through transformative growth internationally and operational improvement. PX3 is the continuation and consolidation of the founding partners’ investment strategy and their relationship-focused and distinctive value creation model honed over 20 years working together.
Click here to download press release [PDF].
- PX3 Partners
