Lindab acquires Liftasud: building distribution strength through acquisition

Lindab, a European benchmark in ventilation

Founded in 1959 in Båstad, Sweden, Lindab is one of Europe's leading ventilation companies: the group develops, manufactures and distributes products and systems for energy-efficient ventilation and a healthy indoor climate. Listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, it reported revenue of SEK 9,648 million in 2021 — around EUR 900 million — and operates in some twenty countries, with Western Europe alone accounting for almost 42% of its revenue. Its growth strategy has long relied on serial acquisitions: acquired companies continue to trade under their own brand, while drawing on the group's sales network, purchasing and central resources.

Liftasud, a Paris-region specialist in HVAC and acoustics

Based in Torcy, in the Paris region, Liftasud is a multi-specialist HVAC distributor: it supplies installers with ventilation ductwork, heating and air-conditioning equipment and thermal insulation solutions through a network of six sites covering France. With revenue of around EUR 25 million and 55 employees, it has built a particular reputation in a demanding field: acoustics and silencers for air-distribution systems, a rare technical skill that building regulations make more sought-after every year. A family business jointly run by Julien Brunel, Chairman, and Valérie Brunel, Finance and Administration Director — both co-owners — it continues to grow within the Lindab group while keeping its brand, its commercial autonomy and its management team.

What the press said

The deal was announced publicly on 13 September 2022 and picked up by the building and distribution trade press. An overview of the main publications:

Why this acquisition, and why this target

For Lindab, the stakes went beyond size: the French ventilation market is one of the largest in Europe, and the group — first and foremost a manufacturer — wanted direct access to end customers through distribution. Acquiring Liftasud meant densifying its commercial coverage in a single move, especially in the Paris region, securing a sales channel for group products and adding around 50% to its revenue in France. It was also a choice of continuity typical of successful SME transfers: the co-owner managers, Julien and Valérie Brunel, remain at the head of the business, preserving customer relationships and the team's know-how.

On the target side, Liftasud is no ordinary distributor. A multi-specialist in HVAC — ventilation ductwork, heating, air conditioning, thermal insulation — the 55-employee company has above all built a rare competence in acoustics and silencers for technical equipment, a field whose importance grows with regulatory requirements and expectations of indoor comfort. “Liftasud has for years developed this know-how in acoustics,” the group's President, Ola Ringdahl, noted at the time of the announcement. It was precisely this speciality, as much as the six-site network, that made the company an unusual target.

A deal at the heart of the energy transition in buildings

This acquisition illustrates an underlying trend: the consolidation of the European HVAC market, driven by the energy renovation of buildings, tighter environmental regulation and new attention to indoor air quality. High-performance ventilation is no longer a second-tier technical topic — it is a regulatory, health and energy issue, and manufacturers in the sector are integrating distribution to capture more value and get closer to customers.

The deal also shows how attractive French SMEs are to European industrial groups: a cross-border business transfer — a listed Swedish group acquiring a family business from the Paris region — financed from own funds, with management and local jobs retained. For the ecosystem, it is the virtuous scenario of growth by acquisition: the target gains access to an international group's purchasing and network, and the acquirer gains a local position it would have taken years to build alone.

Collaboration Capital's added value as buy-side adviser

On this deal, Collaboration Capital acted as buy-side adviser. A growth-by-acquisition mandate of this kind plays out in four stages, and the quality of the final outcome — the right target, on the right terms, with a successful transition — depends on the rigour brought to each of them.