Brookfield, THL Weigh Bids for Pipeline Inspector Rosen Group

(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Asset Management and Thomas H. Lee Partners are among suitors considering making final bids for Rosen Group, an engineering firm specializing in testing oil and gas assets, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

Partners Group Holding AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s investment arm are also weighing offers for the business, which could be valued at as much as $4 billion in any deal, according to the people. Rosen Group’s owners have called for binding offers for the business in October, they said.

Private credit funds are weighing providing as much as €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) to help finance a prospective buyout of Rosen, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty any of the suitors will decide to proceed with offers. The owners could also decide to retain the business if value expectations are not met, they said.

Representatives for Brookfield, Partners Group, Goldman Sachs and Thomas H Lee Partners declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Rosen couldn’t be reached for comment. 

Founded in the early 1980s, Stans, Switzerland-based Rosen designs and manufactures devices for checking the integrity of oil and gas assets such as pipelines and storage tanks. The company has been working with Baird & Co. to gauge interest from possible suitors, Bloomberg News reported in June. Rosen has operations across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific, according to its website.

A sale of the company would add to about $324 million of deals in the industrials sector this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. German metering company Techem GmbH is attracting takeover interest from investment firms including Blackstone Inc. and Macquarie Group Ltd., in a deal that could value the business at about €8 billion ($8.5 billion). 

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