Fiven A/S, an OpenGate Capital LLC portfolio company and specialty materials platform, could hit the block in early 2023, The Deal has learned.

The European silicon carbide maker has been rapidly growing over the past few years and is shaping up as an attractive near-term takeover target, four industry sources said. Supply chain bottlenecks and increasing demand from the electric vehicle and energy infrastructure end markets have aided that growth.

OpenGate held discussions this past summer with banks over an advisory role on a future sale of the business, said two of the sources, who were familiar with the discussions. An auction has not kicked off officially, however, and a broad sale process would likely not begin until early 2023 at the soonest, three of the sources said. OpenGate may also decide not to sell in 2023 and retain the platform, which it has only held for a little over three years.

OpenGate has built Oslo-based Fiven to well over €30 million ($) of true Ebitda over the past 12 months, according to sources familiar with the business, from around €20 million in Ebitda when it purchased the business in May 2019 from French building materials maker Cie de Saint-Gobain SA.

Securities filings show the company’s adjusted Ebitda for the 12-month period ended June 30 is about €41 million.

Editor’s note: The original, full version of this article was published Nov. 3, 2022, on The Deal’s premium subscription website. For access, log in to TheDeal.com or use the form below to request a free trial.