Charterhouse prepares float of German insulation firm Armacell - sources

By Arno Schuetze

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - British buyout group Charterhouse Capital is preparing a stock market listing of its German insulation materials firm Armacell, three people familiar with the plans said.

The private equity investor has asked investment banks to pitch for a role in the initial public offering (IPO) by next week, the sources said, adding an IPO could take place as early as the second half of 2014.

Armacell would be the second German building materials group to list this year after Braas Monier, which on Wednesday traded 4 percent below its offer price.

Armacell in 2013 posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of 65 million euros ($88.7 million) on sales of 510 million euros.

Peers such as Rockwool or Kingspan 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.

Charterhouse, which last year bought Armacell from Bahrain-based private equity firm Investcorp for over 500 million euros, declined to comment.

Armacell, which is based Muenster, Germany, and operates 20 manufacturing facilities around the world, also declined to comment. It 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.

(Additional reporting by Freya Berry, editing by Louise Heavens)