EQT Completes Full Exit from Azelis
Private equity firm EQT has sold its final stake in specialty chemicals company Azelis Group NV. The selldown marks the end of a multi-year investment cycle and demonstrates the PE playbook of exiting mature portfolio companies via public markets as conditions improve to redeploy capital into new opportunities.
EQT's journey with Azelis began in November 2018, when its EQT VIII fund and co-investor PSP Investments acquired the specialty chemicals distributor from Apax Partners. The secondary buyout valued Azelis at over €2 billion, a significant step up from the €430 million Apax paid in 2015. Under EQT's ownership, Azelis executed an aggressive "buy-and-build" strategy, completing 24 add-on acquisitions. This M&A-fueled growth, combined with a focus on digitalization and operational excellence, saw the company nearly double its adjusted EBITA between the 2018 acquisition and its 2021 public debut. The exit strategy pivoted to the public markets on September 17, 2021, with Azelis listing on Euronext Brussels. The IPO was priced at €26 per share, raising €1.77 billion and giving the company an initial market capitalization of €6.1 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in the exchange's history. Following the IPO, EQT and PSP Investments initially retained a majority stake of approximately 51% and 12% respectively. The exit was then phased through subsequent selldowns, a common private equity strategy to maximize returns by gradually selling shares into the public market. One significant sell-down occurred in February 2025, when EQT sold a block of 20 million shares, generating gross proceeds of €333 million for the fund. The final chapter closed on February 26, 2026, with the sale of the remaining 10% stake, or roughly 24 million shares. This last transaction generated approximately €190 million in gross proceeds, with EQT VIII receiving €173 million, marking the end of the successful seven-year investment cycle.
