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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - British buyout group Charterhouse Capital [CHCAP.UL] has picked banks to prepare a stock market listing of its German insulation materials firm Armacell, two people familiar with the plans said.
The private equity investor has mandated Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Bank of America (N:BAC) to organise the flotation as so-called global coordinators, supported by BNP (PA:BNPP), the sources said, adding an initial public offering (IPO) could take place as early as late 2014.
Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, BNP and Charterhouse all declined to comment. Armacell was not immediately available for comment.
Armacell in 2013 posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of 65 million euros ($87 million) on sales of 510 million euros.
Peers such as Rockwool (CO:ROCKb) or Kingspan (I:KSP) trade at an average multiple of nine times their expected earnings.
If valued at a similar multiple, Armacell could be worth more than 600 million euros in an IPO, although one source familiar with the plans said that Charterhouse was hoping to fetch a multiple of 11-12.
Last year, Charterhouse bought Armacell from Bahrain-based private equity firm Investcorp [INBSCC.UL] for over 500 million euros.
Armacell, which is based in Muenster, Germany, and operates 20 manufacturing facilities around the world, has over 2,500 employees and says it is the world's largest maker of flexible insulation, making products used to lag pipes and ductwork in buildings such as factories and schools.
($1 = 0.7462 Euros)
(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Christoph Steitz)