Omnes Capital and Bpifrance have sold their stake in Grain d’Or Gel, a company specialising in the manufacture of frozen bakery products such as pizza dough and snacks.
This disposal falls within the framework of the merger between Grain d’Or Gel and Lubrano.
The new entity, named Groupe Novepan, represents sales of around EUR50 million.
The deal involves the Azulis Capital fund as majority shareholder, alongside the management team, which has increased its stake during this new round of fundraising. Omnes Capital and Bpifrance acquired a stake in the company in 2008 within the context of a management buy-in (MBI) alongside director Marc Levy.
Based in Lomme in France and created by an artisan baker in 1965, Grain d’Or Gel was one of the first companies to produce frozen raw bread while maintaining the authenticity of artisanal dough. Thanks to its manufacturing expertise and production capacity, it is able to offer professional clients a wide and varied range of frozen products, including raw white and speciality breads, pre-cooked products, raw and ready-to-cook pizza dough and ready-to-cook snacks.
Its products are sold to supermarkets and hypermarkets (in-store bakeries and hot food counters), foodservice operators (wholesalers and direct operators) and other industrial clients.
Grain d’Or Gel generated sales of EUR25 million in 2016. It has 106 employees across three production plants in Northern France and the Seine-Maritime region, with annual production capacity of over 42,000 tonnes.
During the nine years of the partnership, the company has expanded by enlarging its client portfolio and product range, with a shift towards pre-cooked products, while also updating its production facilities. By supporting the management team since 2008, Omnes Capital and Bpifrance allowed the company to make it through the financial crisis of 2009 and 2010, which had a severe impact on the sector. Sales have almost doubled since this period.
Marc Levy, chairman of Grain d’Or Gel, says: “Despite difficult market conditions relating to the financial crisis and changes in environmental standards (R22) in particular, we have managed to move forwards in terms of technology, allowing us to enlarge our range to include precooked products as well as raw. The merger with Lubrano is an excellent illustration of this. It will enable us to offer products that are tastier, more authentic and better for our health. Lubrano will provide us with its expertise in the production and use of yeasts, which will benefit both our bread products and our pizzas.”
Laurent Espic, partner at Omnes Capital, adds: “We have worked with Grain d’Or Gel with a long-term view and providing constant investment. We have made winning strategic decisions to expand the company and help it through a turbulent time. We are proud to be selling our stake in a favourable context of restored growth.”
Jean-Yves Duriez, investment director at Bpifrance, says: “We are happy to have supported and worked with this wonderful agrifood company over the long term. Its merger with Lubrano and the arrival of new financial backers fits in fully with Bpifrance’s DNA as a patient investor. This stake is being sold in a context that favours taking the next steps forward in terms of growth.”
