PARIS (Reuters) - French investment company Wendel said on Monday it was in exclusive talks to buy a majority stake in engineering consulting group Scalian for an enterprise value of 965 million euros ($1.06 billion).
It is Wendel's first acquisition under CEO Laurent Mignon, who became head of the family-owned group late last year and last month announced a plan to build an asset management division.
Under the planned deal, Wendel could invest up to around 550 million euros in equity alongside the management team and could hold a majority stake in the company, the statement said.
"This majority investment by Wendel in an unlisted company will be fully in line with the strategic roadmap we announced a few weeks ago, including the ambition to invest two billion euros over the next twenty-four months," Mignon said.
Founded in 1989, Scalian is one of France's top 10 engineering consulting firms, Wendel said, adding that it was expected to achieve revenue of 510 million euros, and an adjusted core operating profit of 74 million euros in the year to June 2023.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023.
($1 = 0.9098 euros)