Key Takeaways
- Sector: Manufacturing.
- Geography: France.
Analysis
KPS Capital Partners has agreed to purchase a controlling interest in surface-protection specialist Novacel, with selling shareholder Compagnie Chargeurs Invest SA reinvesting and retaining a 25% ownership. The parties expect the transaction to complete in Q2 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
Novacel supplies protective and process films, tapes, papers and associated machinery to building, industrial, appliance and transport manufacturers. Headquartered in Deville, France, the business employs roughly 700 people and runs six production sites plus three R&D centres across France, Italy and the United States.
Speaking for the buyer, Pierre de Villeméjane, Partner and Co‑Head of KPS Mid‑Cap Investments, said the firm sees Novacel as a differentiated manufacturing platform with strong technical capabilities and a wide customer base. He highlighted KPS’s ability to apply operational know‑how and capital to scale manufacturing businesses and accelerate product and geographic expansion.
Novacel chief executive Philippe Denoix welcomed the deal as an opportunity to run the company as an independent industrial platform. He underlined plans to deepen the group’s technical leadership, invest in new product development and improve manufacturing efficiency with KPS as partner.
Michaël Fribourg, Chairman and CEO of Compagnie Chargeurs Invest, said Chargeurs is backing the transaction by keeping a material minority stake and reinvesting alongside KPS. Fribourg signalled an ambition to support Novacel’s growth—including an explicit focus on M&A consolidation in surface protection—and pointed to Chargeurs’ broader industrial portfolio (the group reported revenues of €729.6m in 2024).
Advisors to the deal included legal counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and financial adviser Rothschild & Co. While financial terms were not disclosed, the transaction positions Novacel to pursue both organic investment and bolt‑on acquisitions in a market underpinned by steady demand from construction, white goods and the electric vehicle supply chain. The global protective‑film segment is a multi‑billion dollar, low‑single‑digit CAGR market where scale, specialised R&D and manufacturing footprint matter — characteristics that make Novacel attractive to a buy‑and‑build private equity owner such as KPS.
For KPS, the deal fits a familiar pattern: buying industrial platforms with identifiable operational levers and scope for consolidation. For the sector, the combination of new capital, retained minority ownership from a strategic seller and stated M&A intent could accelerate consolidation and innovation in surface protection, particularly across Europe and North America.