Pipe manufacturer Uponor (Vantaa / Finland; www.uponor.com) is to sell its UK and Irish infrastructure business to private equity company 3i (London / UK; www.3i.com) for GBP 100m (EUR 126m). The contract includes the sale of the share capital of Uponor’s subsidiary companies Uponor Ltd in the UK and Radius Plastics in Northern Ireland. The companies have manufacturing operations in Hilcote, near Alfreton, Derbyshire, in Aycliffe, County Durham, and in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. The company’s infrastructure business located in Cork in the Republic of Ireland is included in the deal. Uponor had already agreed a deal to sell its factory premises in Cork to a local building company, the closing of which has now been postponed to the first quarter of 2009.

The net sales of the divested businesses, which employ 470 staff, were EUR 169.1m in 2007. Uponor retains its UK and Irish under floor heating and plumbing systems business Uponor Housing Solutions (Lutterworth / UK; www.uponorhousingsolutions.co.uk), which has expanded vigorously in recent years and now has 110 employees. Jyri Luomakoski, Uponor’s deputy CEO, said the divested operations had few synergies with either its Nordic infrastructure business or the local housing solutions business as they mostly serve gas and water utility companies. The sale, therefore, “reinforces our strategy to maintain a core business approach with which our long-term financial targets are also aligned,” he added. After completion of the deal, 80% of Uponor’s global net sales will be generated by its housing solutions business in Europe and North America.