Ares Management, Castik Capital, Egeria Group, HIG Capital, Inflexion, and Rivean Capital are through to the second round of IceLake’s sale of infrastructure maintenance business Groundbirds, according to 9fin sources.
Non-binding offers for the Dutch business were due on 1 October, as 9fin reported.
William Blair is running the auction, marketing the business off around €30m of EBITDA.
Groundbirds maintains transport infrastructure such as roads, guardrails, and traffic systems from start to finish, according to its website. Its main clients are local governments across Europe.
Founded in 1911 as D. van der Steen, the business rebranded as Groundbirds when IceLake expanded the group through a series of acquisitions. The add-ons included regional road-marking specialists Track Line and MSV-M, traffic-lighting business Lokhoff, and road-safety infrastructure company GfS.
IceLake acquired the firm from Foreman Capital and minority shareholders in 2024. Crescent Capital provided the financing, according to an announcement from the lender.
Ares and Inflexion declined to comment. Castik, Egeria, Groundbirds, HIG, IceLake, Rivean, and William Blair did not respond to requests for comment.
